A Song of Comfort
by shadow0night
Summary: Dean's ability to continue hunting becomes questionable, after a hunt. Will Dean's limited capability cost Sam his life? Takes place during season 2. ETA:For some reason, when I posted this yesterday, it didn't all go through. Now, the story is all here
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any character from the show, Supernatural

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Supernatural or any character from the show, Supernatural. They belong to Kripke and crew. I'm also not getting any financial benefits, by posting this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

The silence inside the Impala was eerie. Sam fidgeted in the front seat and tried to get comfortable. He sneaked a glance at Dean and then looked back out through the windshield. He wanted to say something; but, he knew that it would do no good. Instead, he knew that the conversation would have to wait, until they reached their next destination. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw how tight Dean was gripping the steering wheel. Sam would have felt more comfortable if Dean had let him drive; but, he knew that right now Dean felt most comfortable behind the wheel of his baby. Normally, Dean would have the music on and would be drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. If Dean really liked the song, he would have the volume turned way up and would be nodding his head to the beat. But now, the radio was off and all Sam could hear was the sound of the Impala's engine. Looking over at Dean, Sam wondered what was going through Dean's head. Sam knew that Dean was deaf to the world around him and that Dean couldn't even enjoy his baby's purring engine. Sam sadly closed his eyes and turned his head to look out the side window.


	2. Chapter 2

Their last hunt hadn't gone quite as planned. They had finally trapped the monster, which they had been hunting, in a warehouse. What the brothers didn't know was that the owner, of the warehouse, had illegally been storing a large amount of fireworks inside of it. Dean had told Sam to stay outside and make certain that the monster didn't sneak out of the warehouse. Meanwhile, Dean had gone into the warehouse to kill the thing. At some point, the monster had ripped out a bunch of electrical wires and started a small fire. Undeterred, Dean had continued hunting and upon cornering the monster in the manager's office, he killed the thing. As soon as Dean verified that the thing was dead, he quickly scanned the warehouse area, from the window in the manager's office, and noticed how quickly the fire was spreading. Not wasting any time, he quickly spied an exit and started towards it. Since the manager's office was at an end of the warehouse where there were several other offices, it had a private exit nearby, which allowed Dean to avoid entering the warehouse floor, where the fire raged. What Dean had not been able to see from the manager's window was where the fireworks were stashed and how close the flames were to reaching the boxes. Dean was just a couple feet from the exit, when the flames reached the fireworks and set them off. The stashed fireworks included small firecrackers and whistlers. But, it also contained mortars and shells, which had been specifically purchased for their very loud bang.

Sam had been outside the warehouse and had positioned himself where he could easily watch two sides of the building. While he focused on watching these two sides, since they had the most doors and windows on them, he would also occasionally check the other sides and make certain that the thing hadn't snuck out. Thankfully, they were hunting in January and fresh snow had recently fallen. This allowed Sam the ability to easily check the area for fresh tracks and had assured him that the monster had not left the building. While patrolling the warehouse's exterior, Sam had noticed a reddish glow coming from some of the warehouse windows. Sam had seen enough fires to know what the glow was from. Concern for Dean had Sam considering entering the warehouse. However, for all Sam knew, Dean might have been the one to start the fire, in order to trap the monster. For now, Sam decided to remain outside the warehouse. However, he quietly decided that if the fire worsened that he would then go in and look for Dean. Since Sam remained outside, he did not know what was stored in the warehouse and thereby, he too had no way of knowing about the secreted fireworks. Sam had observed that the flames had increased some and was debating how he should enter the warehouse, when he heard and felt a sudden explosion. From where he had been standing, Sam had seen part of the warehouse get blown out. Instincts and training had immediately kicked in and Sam had dove for cover behind a truck, before any flying debris had a chance to strike him. Sam lay on the ground and had covered his hands over his head. He lay there for a few seconds and waited for the commotion to settle a bit. However, Sam noticed that the commotion never slowed done. Normally, an explosion is followed by a bit of silence. Not this time. This time, one immense explosion was followed by many smaller ones and many whistling sounds. Sam cautiously raised his head and peeked around the truck. To his amazement, half of the warehouse was still intact. Fireworks could be seen easily exiting through an area where part of the warehouse wall had previously stood. All of the warehouse's windows had been blown out and through many of these open windows, more fireworks came flying out. Sam's chest tightened, as he saw how much destruction had been done to the warehouse. Sam was quick to get to his feet and was evaluating his best entrance into the warehouse. He had no idea where Dean was, except that Dean had been in the warehouse when it had exploded. Concern for Dean's well-being overrode any thoughts that Sam might have had for his own safety. Right then, all Sam wanted to do was to find his brother and to make certain that Dean was alright.

/SN/

One second, Dean was on his feet and headed towards the exit. The next second, he found himself engulfed by a loud, ear-piercing sound and forced to the ground by a powerful burst of hot, sulfur air. He shook his head and tried to get his bearings. Lifting his head, he saw that he was still facing the exit. In fact, the door was no longer closed and now stood welcomingly open. Despite not feeling one hundred percent, Dean placed one hand on a nearby wall and managed to get to his feet. Not sure what had happened but realizing that now was not the time to stay in the warehouse and find out, Dean worked his way out of the building. As he put some distance between himself and the warehouse, Dean was shocked by how cold the outdoor temperature was. He hadn't realized how hot the air, inside the warehouse, had become, until he was no longer surrounded by it. The cold air stunned his lungs and Dean found himself gasping for air, as his lungs adjusted to the temperature change. Dean was bent over at the waist, with both hands on his knees, as he gasped for air. Something was wrong; but, he didn't know what it was. Right then, his focus was on getting air into his lungs without any additional difficulty. While he focused on that, he began to take stock of himself. Fortunately, he didn't feel any severe pain anywhere. Miraculously, by being in the hallway for the offices, he had managed to avoid most of the explosion and the flying debris. Unexpectedly, Dean felt something touch his back. Years of training allowed Dean to immediately react. Without any warning, Dean quickly stood. While twisting his entire body around, his right arm shot back and came in contact with whatever had touched him. Dean's right hand clamped down on it and with the combined force from Dean's body weight and momentum, Dean was able to easily pin his target to the ground. What Dean hadn't expected was to learn that his target was Sam. Quickly, Dean released his grip and checked to make certain that he hadn't injured his brother. Sam's shocked eyes stared up at Dean. Dean saw Sam's lips move; but, Dean heard nothing. After quickly looking over Sam, Dean's attention returned to his brother's face. Sam had a quizzical look on his face and kept moving his lips.

Dean didn't feel up to playing charades and decided to ask Sam a question…

A quizzical look soon appeared on Dean's face, which matched the same look that Sam had on his. Dean had sworn that he had asked Sam a question; but, he hadn't heard himself ask the question.

Dean tried again… Dean still heard nothing. Dean backed away from Sam and frantically began to look around. No longer trying to catch his breathe, Dean was able to realize what had been nagging him. It was silence. Complete and total silence! Dean looked at the flames and fireworks, which were exiting the warehouse and realized that he could not hear the crackles, whistles, and bangs that normally went with them. Dean tried not to panic and tried to rein in his emotions. A pair of hands suddenly came to rest on Dean's shoulders and he found himself looking into Sam's face. Sam's face was full of concern, worry and understanding. Dean placed his hands on top of Sam's and shook his head. Dean still had a job to finish and all that remained was getting the hell out of there. Dean quickly realized where they were in relation to the Impala and immediately headed towards his beloved car.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam watched Dean's back, as they headed back towards the car. Something was wrong with Dean. Sam wasn't sure what; but, he thought that it might have something to do with Dean's hearing. Sam had been shocked by Dean's reaction, when Sam had placed a hand on Dean's back.

Sam had seen Dean exit the warehouse and had been quick to get to his brother's side. As Sam approached, he saw Dean bend over and was worried that Dean was injured. Sam had seen how much damage the explosion had done to the warehouse and despite being outside of the building, Sam had also felt the explosion's intensity. He had been extremely happy to see his brother exit the building, on his own and with no obvious signs of injury. However, when Sam noticed that Dean had stopped and placed his hands on his knees, Sam was concerned that Dean had some type of internal injuries. All Sam had wanted to do was to get to Dean and check on him. As Sam approached his brother, he called Dean's name several times and wasn't totally shocked when Dean didn't reply. Dean was good about hiding his injuries and his emotions. It would not have been unusual for Dean to take a few seconds to collect himself and to work on hiding his pains behind a mask. In fact, Sam had expected Dean to stand up and make some type of wisecrack, as Sam placed a concerned hand on Dean's back. What Sam hadn't expected was for Dean to suddenly twist around, grab Sam's arm and then pin Sam on the ground. Shock barely began to explain how Sam felt at that second.

"Dean?! What the hell? What are you doing, man? If this is some kind of joke, I'm definitely not seeing any humor in it." Sam found himself rambling, as he tried to figure out what had happened and why. They had only been chasing a monster and not a demon; so, Sam was fairly certain that Dean wasn't possessed. But at the same time, Sam couldn't figure out why Dean had reacted the way he had. Sam watched as Dean visually inspected Sam for any damage. "Dean, you want to explain what's going on here?" Dean was acting a little more like himself, by checking Sam for injuries. But, Sam still had no clue why Dean had felt the need to pin him to the ground in the first place. Sam became concerned that something might have happened to Dean, while Dean had been in the warehouse… something besides getting caught in a massive explosion. "Dean whatever is going on, I know that we can figure it out together. But man, you have to start telling me what's going on." Dean's concerned eyes returned to look at Sam's.

"What the hell were you thinking by sneaking up on me like that, Sammy?" Dean asked rather loudly.

'Sneaking'? Sam had been talking to Dean, the whole time Sam had approached him. Sam didn't have a death wish and knew better than to stealthily creep up on Dean, during a hunt. Sam looked at Dean quizzically and was surprised when Dean' expression matched his own.

"Sam, what the hell is going on?" Sam noticed that Dean's tone and volume varied a bit, when Dean asked the question. Sam watched horrified, as Dean backed away and looked around. Something was wrong with Dean and Sam was going to do whatever he could to help. Sam quickly got to his feet and watched as Dean continued to look around. Sam wished that Dean would give him some clue as to what was wrong. Sam just knew that something wasn't right and wanted Dean to know that Sam was there for him. Sam approached Dean and put his hands on Dean's shoulders. Thankfully, Sam wasn't thrown to the ground this time and was relieved when Dean looked him in the eyes and gently placed his hands on top of Sam's. Sam was not surprised, when he saw resolve settle over Dean's face and realized that Dean was quickly pulling himself together. For now, Sam wouldn't question Dean. But, Sam had no plans of allowing Dean out of his sight. Something was going on and Sam had every intention of getting to the bottom of it.

/SN/

Together, the brothers returned to the Impala and quickly left the burning warehouse far behind them. As they rode away, Sam was amazed at how the fireworks continued to go off and was surprised that even after they were several blocks away, he could still hear all the explosions and whistles coming from the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Dean drove them back to their motel. He had a tight grip on the steering wheel and in addition to paying attention to the road in front of them, he also frequently checked his rear and side-view mirrors. Dean found that driving without being able to hear was a very odd and uncomfortable experience. He had never paid much attention to how much he relied on his hearing to assist with his driving. Sure, he loved to listen to the Impala's engine purr and he loved to listen to his music. But, he had never realized how much he used his hearing to help him be aware of what went on outside the car. He couldn't hear the cars, as they drove past him. He couldn't hear any of the normal traffic noises, which always accompanied vehicle and pedestrian traffic in a city. His stomach uncomfortably churned, as he realized how this would impact his ability to hunt. Dean took a controlled deep breath. He had to keep his emotions in check, since he didn't want Sam to worry. However, Dean was certain that Sam knew something wasn't right. Dean had caught Sam casting worried glances Dean's way. Dean didn't blame Sam. If Sam ever became deaf, Dean would make Sam stop hunting. Dean knew the dangers of hunting, when you're not one hundred percent fine. And being deaf would drastically increase one's chance of getting hurt or worse – getting yourself or some else killed. Dean hoped that his hearing loss was only temporary, since he couldn't picture himself doing anything other than hunting.

It wasn't uncommon for the brothers to head back to a motel in silence. After a hunt, the brothers occasionally just needed some quiet time to process what they had encountered and how things had gone down. And although they did have things to think about, Sam knew that this return trip's silence was also a result of something else. But, what specifically that something else was still eluded Sam. Sam had sneaked a few quick glances at Dean and had been unable to determine what was different about his brother. Sam though that something might be wrong with Dean's hearing; but, he wasn't certain. Something else might have caused Dean to have been distracted enough, to cause him to be unaware of Sam's approach, after Dean had exited the building. If that was the case, then Sam felt that he definitely had to find out what would throw Dean off his game like that. The fact the Dean's speech had been off, also bothered Sam. Since there had been such a large explosion, Sam knew that he couldn't rule out the fact that Dean might have been injured and could also be suffering from a concussion. But, since Dean was remaining silent and hadn't told Sam what was wrong, Sam knew that all he could do, for now, was keep a close eye on Dean and try to figure out what was wrong with his brother.

Without incident, the brothers reached their motel safely and entered their room. Sam remained two steps behind Dean, even after Sam closed the room's door behind them. Unexpectedly, Dean stopped just ten steps into the room. Sam also stopped and watched his brother. Dean reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. After quickly going through it, Dean pulled out some money and turned around to face Sam.

"I'm starved. How about you run out and grab us something to eat? I didn't see any restaurants nearby; so, take the Impala." Dean said this, as he placed money and the Impala's keys in Sam's outstretched hand. With that done, Dean turned, went into the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.

"What do you wantta eat?" Sam asked Dean's back. But, Sam didn't get a reply, except for the closing of the bathroom door. Sam knew what Dean liked to eat; but, he had hoped to get some clue as to what was going on with Dean and had hoped to interact more with Dean, instead of leaving Dean alone in their room. Not unexpectedly, Dean had kept the conversation short and to the point. Dean had said all that he was going to say for now, and then, Dean had ended the conversation by leaving the room and closing the door on Sam. Sam sadly hung his head and shook it. His brother could be so frustratingly stubborn, at times. Some times, that could be a good quality and at other times, that just plain sucked. And right now, it sucked! And based on Dean's one-sided conversation, Sam knew that the only way he would get Dean out of the bathroom, was if Sam brought dinner back to their room. Knowing that he had no other options, Sam stuffed the money into his pocket and went to the Impala.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean had leaned his back against the bathroom door, soon after he had closed it. He couldn't face Sam right now and food seemed like a good way to distract his brother. Dean knew that had Sam remained in the motel room that his little brother would have rattled off a bunch of questions. And although Dean wouldn't have heard a single word that Sam said, Dean knew that by not answering his brother's questions that Sam's concern would only have increased. Dean was struggling with his own emotions and wasn't up for dealing with Sam's as well. Dean loved Sam dearly; but right now, he needed some time to himself and needed some time alone to figure out how bad things really were. After waiting another minute, Dean decided to confirm that Sam really had left to get food. Cautiously, Dean opened the bathroom door and saw that the motel room was empty. Dean released a sigh of relief and turned back to the bathroom sink. As he bent down, Dean turned on the cold water. Cupping his hands, he collected some water in his hands and then threw the water onto his face. The coldness felt refreshing and so, Dean repeated throwing water onto his face several times. Shutting off the water, Dean stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. It had been strange not hearing the tap turned on and not hearing the water run out of the faucet and into the sink. The silence was almost scarier than some of the monsters he had killed. Still watching himself in the mirror, Dean raised both hands and snapped his fingers. Nothing! Absolute nothing! Dean saw his fingers move and had felt his fingers rub against each other. But, there had been no sound. Dean took a sad, slow, deep breath. Still watching his reflection, Dean saw his mouth move and even though he knew that he was trying to say, "you're really screwed this time, aren't you", he heard no sound. Dean grabbed a towel and dried his face. Dean then left the bathroom and sat on his bed. Discouraged, Dean placed his elbows on his knees and put his face into his cupped hands. He knew that he had to get himself together, before Sam returned; but, he was finding that much harder than usual to do.

In the past, Dean had been temporarily left blind or deaf; but, those occasions had never lasted longer than a minute or two. Usually, the deafness had been caused by the high-pitch scream of some monster, which they were in the process of eradicating. The blindness had been caused by a flare or by quickly entering a brightly lighted room after having been in a pitch black area. On those occasions, Dean had been able to easily rely on his other senses to help, while he waited for his disabled sense to return. This time, however, his hearing just didn't seem to want to return. Their father had taught them how to treat and care for a variety of injuries. However, John really had never discussed what to do, should a sense suddenly not return. This was one situation, which Dean could not recall John preparing Dean for. Dean knew that going to a hospital was not an option at this time. Even though their motel was a couple towns away from the warehouse, Dean suspected that his injury could not be easily explained and that a doctor would quickly become suspicious and would contact the police. No, for now, Dean was on his own with this. Well, maybe not totally on his own. After all, when Sam returned, Dean knew that his brother would want to know what all was wrong with Dean and would immediately dive into finding a solution to the situation. A small smile formed, on Dean's face, as he thought about his brother and his brother's caring nature.

Dean wasn't surprised that his hearing was gone. After all, he had felt how powerful the explosion had been. And after exiting the warehouse, Dean had been able to see the destruction that the explosion had done and knew that a very loud bang would have coincided with it. What shocked Dean was the fact that his hearing hadn't returned by now. He was accustomed to quickly rebounding from a hunt. Sure, some injuries took a while to heal. But, Dean had always been good about accommodating his injuries and finding ways to work around them. This time though, he just didn't know what he could do to make up for his deafness. John had taught him to use all five senses – six, if you included your gut feeling. John had stressed how important it was to use all of one's senses, in order to be fully aware of what was going on around you. Being unable to hear anything would mean that Dean wouldn't have any auditory warning of danger. Even worse, if Sam got into trouble, Dean wouldn't be able to hear Sam call for him. No. Dean realized that there was no way he could accommodate his deafness. He wouldn't risk Sam's life, by going into a hunt deaf. Begrudgingly, Dean realized that he would not be able to return to hunting, until after his hearing returned. As this realization sunk in, Dean's stomach suddenly felt heavy and full of lead. The idea of not being able to hunt seemed bizarre and very wrong. Dean felt as if his world was coming to an end. Dean was raised to hunt. Hunting was all he knew – well, besides looking out for Sam. While Dean tried to acclimate to the idea of not hunting, he wondered how Sam would react to the news. Dean's chest tightened, as he thought about how Sam would take the news.

Dean felt a vibration with his feet and lifted his head out of his cupped hands. As he did so, he noticed a light appear on the carpet, in front of him. Dean turned his head and saw that the light was coming from the now opened door, of the motel room. In the doorway stood Sam, with a large brown bag in his hand. Dean offered his brother a small smile and with his head directed Sam to come on in. Normally, Dean would postpone a difficult conversation, until after he had eaten or even later, if possible. However, Dean was certain that Sam would try and talk to Dean, while Dean ate. That and the fact that right now, Dean didn't think his stomach would tolerate having any food put into it, lead Dean to decide to just lay it all out now.

Sam's stomach turned into one big knot, when he entered the motel room and saw Dean sitting on the bed, with that small smile that said "I have something bad to tell you. If I could make it all better I would; but, I can't this time." Sam hated that smile. Fortunately, he very rarely saw it. But when it made an appearance, Sam felt like the world was coming to an end. Sam placed the bag, which contained their dinner, on a table and sat down on a chair facing Dean. Sam had been about to say something; but suddenly, he just didn't know what he could say. For now, all he could do was wait and hear what Dean had to say.

"Sam..." Dean started.

Sam watched as Dean's face showed that Dean was really concentrating on what he was saying and that Dean seemed to be using lot of effort to speak to Sam.

Dean couldn't believe how hard it was just to say Sam's name. Not being able to hear yourself speak was awful. Dean had always been good about keeping emotions out of his voice and keeping his tone even. But when you can't hear what is coming out of your mouth, you have no idea what all your words and tone are revealing. Dean didn't want to freak Sam out and as the big brother, Dean didn't want to appear out of control to his little brother. But, Dean began to feel a bit unnerved as he realized how hard it was going to be to verbally tell Sam about the deafness. Since Dean wouldn't be able to hear how he was talking to Sam, Dean prayed that his speech didn't reveal more than he intended.

Dean saw concern appear on Sam's face and knew that he had to try and ease Sam's worry. The last thing Dean needed was for Sam to take the news badly. With renewed effort, Dean continued.

"Sam, you know how there was that explosion at the warehouse?' Dean watched Sam cautiously nod his head.

"Fortunately, we were both able to walk away from that one. The thing is… well, I…" Dean wished that he had had more time to think of how he wanted to tell Sam that he was deaf. Dean watched as Sam's mouth moved. Shit! Sam had just said something and Dean had no idea what had been said.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam carefully watched Dean's reaction. He was puzzled when he saw disappointment appear on Dean's face. Sam had simply asked, "Dean what's wrong? Whatever it is, we'll face it head on." Why would Sam's remark cause Dean to be disappointed? Sam always tried to be there for Dean. Sure, Dean was a proud, independent individual, who preferred to do things for himself. But, there were times when Dean allowed himself to lean on Sam for support. Why was this time different? Was Dean disappointed in Sam or in Dean? The way Dean had been talking had also caused Sam to have some more questions. Dean had been putting a lot of effort into his speech. Sam was certain that Dean wasn't drunk and yet, the way Dean spoke reminded Sam of how a person talks when they're drunk and are putting effort into making their speech not sound like they're under the influence. The way Dean had annunciated his words and how his tone and volume wavered caused Sam to wonder what was going on. He was fairly certain that he was looking at his brother; but, something was wrong here. Had something supernatural happened to Dean and was now affecting how Dean spoke? Was Dean possibly possessed and he was now struggling to maintain control over his own body? Sam really wanted to find out why his brother's speech was different and wanted to know NOW! Sam was wondering if he should start reciting an exorcism or grabbing some holy water first.

Dean watched as a range of things played out on Sam's face, within a matter of seconds. Things weren't going the way Dean had wished. He could tell that this wasn't going the way he had hoped it would and knew that he had to quickly take control of the situation. Dean feared that Sam's imagination may have started to run wild and decided to take the reins.

"Sam, look at me." Dean's tone demanded attention. Sam followed the order and looked at his brother, even though his mind was thinking of things that he needed to do, if Dean was possessed.

"I'm deaf. And, I have no idea what you said to me a second ago."

/SN/

Dean's statement shocked Sam. It was as if a bucket of freezing cold water had just been thrown onto Sam and he hadn't seen it coming. Deaf?! How was that possible? Did that mean that nothing supernatural was involved here? So then, Dean wasn't possessed? Deaf?! Had Sam heard his brother correctly? Sam had watched Dean exit the warehouse without any difficulty. In fact, Dean had walked away without a scratch on him. Although… Dean had blamed Sam for sneaking up on him, outside the warehouse, even though Sam had been talking to him as he approached. Deafness would explain why Dean never answered Sam's questions. With a quick smirk, Sam wondered what Dean's excuse was on the other occasions, in the past, when Dean didn't answer Sam's questions. At least for now, being deaf was a good reason to not hear things that Sam had said. Sam knew that Dean was watching his reaction.

"Ok, we'll just get you to a specialist and figure out what is going on and how bad it is." Sam said confidently. It seemed like a simple enough solution and one that could be easily achieved. Sam's remark was answered by a quizzical look on Dean's face. Sam mentally berated himself. Dean was deaf! Of course, he hadn't heard a thing that Sam had said and had no idea what idea Sam had come up with.

Dean watched his brother and grinned. As usual, Sam had come up with some solution and had blurted it out. What Sam seemed to have quickly forgotten was that Dean was deaf and hadn't caught a word of what had been said. Dean watched as Sam's memory kicked in and Sam realized that his idea had literally fallen on deaf ears. Dean continued to watch, as Sam scanned the room – presumably for a paper and pen. Sure enough, as soon as Sam eyed the paper and pen, on the table, he quickly got up and grabbed them. Sam sat back down on the chair and quickly began to scribble. Dean watched the pen move across the paper. In the past, Dean had commented on Sam's chicken scratch. Now as he watched Sam hastily write, Dean just hoped that he would be able to read whatever was on the paper.

Sam quickly finished jotting down his idea, on the sheet of paper, and handed it to Dean. The solution seemed quite obvious and Sam was confident that something could be done to treat the deafness. At the moment, Sam was happy that Dean wasn't possessed and that this was not supernaturally related. In the past, both of them had received injuries during a hunt. They had knowledge and training on how to treat injuries. And when an injury was too severe, they simply went to a doctor and got it checked. Sam watched as Dean read the paper.

Dean tried to interpret what Sam had written. Sam had been in such a rush to write down his idea, that Dean was fairly certain that Sam had tried to use some sort of shorthand or had simply left out some letters, in the words. Dean re-read the note and realized that Sam was suggesting that Dean see a specialist. Dean shook his head. At least for now, that really wasn't an option. The intensity of the explosion most likely caused the damage to Dean's ears, and Dean knew that he couldn't come up with a believable story that would match the truth and would accurately match the volume and noise level which Dean's ears had been exposed to. Looking up, Dean saw a questioning look appear on Sam's face. Sam realized that Dean was disagreeing with his idea and wanted to know why.

"Sam, what kind of story would explain what I heard in that warehouse? That explosion is going to be on the news and every doctor, in this state and nearby area, is going to know about it." Dean watched Sam's face sadden, as Dean explained why Sam's idea wasn't feasible. Dean hadn't meant to burst Sam's bubble; but, Dean knew that they had to be logical with whatever step they took next. "Look. I'm sure that my hearing will come back soon. This is just temporary." Dean watched as Sam raised hopeful eyes to meets Dean's. "What do you say, we take it easy for a couple days, before we look for our next hunt?" Sam nodded his head. Dean could tell that Sam wasn't totally convinced; but at least, Dean saw some glimmer of hope in Sam's eyes. Dean also hoped that what he had said was true, and that, his hearing really would come back soon. "Now, lets' eat. I'm starved." Dean got up and went to see what Sam had bought for dinner.

Sam watched Dean head over to the table, which the bag of food had been placed on. He had lost his appetite, after hearing that his brother was deaf. Sam knew that Dean was correct about not seeing a local specialist. While the brothers could be very creative with the stories they told, Sam doubted that any story could realistically match the intensity level which Dean's ears had been exposed to. Sam begrudgingly admitted that Dean was right. Perhaps, they could find a specialist, in another state, who Dean could see about his hearing. But for now, they would have to wait and distance themselves from the warehouse explosion. Dean's back was still facing Sam, as Dean went through the bag of food.

"Dean?" Sam asked quietly.

"Dean?" Sam asked a little bit louder.

"Dean, we'll figure this out together. You're not alone in this." Sam was kinda glad that Dean was deaf. Because had Dean heard what Sam had just said, Sam knew his brother would have some comment about the chick-flick remark.

Dean turned and handed Sam a cup of coffee. Dean could see that Sam was still processing what Dean had just told him. Dean was comforted to see that Sam was taking it relatively well. At least, Sam hadn't grabbed Dean by the arm and tried to drag him to the nearest quack. Dean had a feeling that a doctor really couldn't help him and that what he really needed was time to heal. Dean hoped that his hearing would return, although a part of him wondered how soon his hearing would return and if his hearing may still remain a bit impaired.

Sam accepted the coffee from Dean. He had lost his appetite and instead, felt like he needed to do something. But, what? Sam looked around the room, until his eyes came to rest on his laptop. Sam got up and started the computer. Once it was running, Sam connected to the internet and began to do a search. He knew that he should be able to find something about Dean's condition. As far as he was concerned, anything was better than nothing. And having nothing was unacceptable.

Dean was not surprised to see Sam surfing the net. Research-boy was doing what he did best. Dean grabbed a hamburger and some fries, sat down on his bed, and turned on the TV. Dean made himself comfortable on the bed, and out of habit, reached for the remote, when he was unable to hear what was being said. Just as his finger was about to hit the up button, for the volume, Dean froze. The fact that he was deaf apparently hadn't really had a chance to totally sink in yet. Dean snuck a quick glance in Sam's direction and confirmed that Sam hadn't noticed Dean's little slip. Dean considered shutting the TV off, since he couldn't hear anything. But, he decided against it, since Sam would probably notice the TV being turned on and then off. No. It was probably better to just leave it on, since Sam was accustomed to Dean having the TV on while Sam searched the net and Dean ate. So, Dean resigned himself to eating dinner and watching whatever came on the scene.

Hours later, Sam finally looked up from the laptop's screen. Glancing at his watch, he was surprised by what time it was. He had managed to find some information about Dean's deafness; but based on what Sam had found, Dean's future was a question mark. Sam knew that Dean felt compelled to hunt. However, Dean's ability to do so would be greatly impacted by the loss of his hearing. In the past, Dean had shown that he was capable of compensating for injuries and for adapting to his surroundings. This time however, Sam doubted that there was much that Dean could do, if he remained deaf. Sure, if Dean was a regular guy and had a regular job, he could probably make adjustments, which would allow him to continue living his life with just a few hitches. However, Dean wasn't a regular guy. He hunted the supernatural and had to remain in top shape, if he wanted to live. Being deaf would mean that Dean wouldn't hear any warnings and wouldn't hear any one calling for help. Being deaf would mean that Dean would have only a limited awareness of his surroundings and that Dean would be unaware of all auditory clues that would assist him during a hunt. Sam's stomach tightened as he thought about how hard this could be for Dean. Sam hoped that Dean's hearing would return. But, Sam had seen and felt the explosion. Unlike Dean, Sam had been outside and had not experienced the explosion's noise trapped within a confined space. The noise had surrounded Dean, within that hallway, and had assaulted Dean's unprotected ears. Sam was glad that Dean had survived the explosion and was glad that Dean had been relatively uninjured, except for the deafness. However, Dean's deafness would cause Dean to become a liability during a hunt. As long as a threat was where Dean could see it, Dean would be capable of taking it down. But, this also meant that Dean would not be able to help some one, unless he could see them, which would mean that Dean could not be guided to a person's location if they called out for help or were screaming. Sam easily recalled numerous times, when the brothers found people because the people were screaming and/or there were other auditory clues as to where a victim was being held. Without those auditory clues, it would have taken longer for the brothers to find the victims and in some cases, it would have meant the brothers would have taken too long to find the victims and the victims would have died. Sam let out a long sigh, as he thought about Dean's deafness and the impact that it would have on the brothers. Sam was accustomed to hunting with his brother and the thought of no longer being able to do so was simply unthinkable, even though Sam knew that there was a good chance that that might actually come to fruition.

Sam shut down his laptop and got up from the table. As he turned to face Dean, Sam noticed the TV was on. He couldn't recall when the TV had been turned on. He was so accustomed to hearing the TV in the background, as he worked on the laptop, that Sam hadn't noticed Dean turn it on. Sam glanced at his brother and saw that Dean was asleep. Sam walked over to the TV and shut it off.

"Dean?" Sam asked softly.

"Dean?" Sam asked a little louder.

"Dean?" Sam asked, in a normal tone and volume. Nothing. Sam's heart broke a little. A part of him had hoped that Dean's hearing might have returned. However, that was not the case. Sam walked over to Dean's bed and placed the comforter over Dean. Sam sadly looked down at his brother and pondered what kind of future awaited him.

Sam turned and got ready for bed. Normally, Sam would have quietly gotten ready for bed. However tonight, Sam felt the need to make as much noise as possible, in the hopes that his brother would begin to hear him and would wake up. Disappointingly, Dean never awoke and Sam despondently went to bed. As he began to doze off, Sam wondered how he would break the news to Dean, about what he had found on the internet.


	6. Chapter 6

Hours later, Dean awoke. Something was off; but, he wasn't sure what. Cautiously, Dean glanced around the room, while still lying in his bed. Dean saw that Sam was sleeping in the other bed. From where Dean lay, it appeared as though the salt lines at the windows and door were also intact. Dean had the nagging feeling that something was wrong, but what? Again, he looked about the room and saw nothing amiss. Silence! The realization felt like a ton of bricks falling on his head. How could he have not noticed that? How could he have forgotten that he was deaf?! Now fully awake, Dean sat up on the side of his bed. He was so accustomed to waking up and hearing things, that not hearing a single noise had caused him to go on alert. Whether it was hearing Sam's breathing or the local traffic on a nearby road, Dean was accustomed to hearing some type of noise, whenever he awoke. Dean slowly shook his head, as he realized how much he relied on his hearing. Surrendering to the fact that he no longer felt tired and knew he could not go back to sleep, Dean stood up and went into the bathroom. Whenever he didn't want to wake up Sam, Dean was good about not making any noise and stealthily moving around a room. But, how does one not make any noise, when one is unable to hear noises themselves? As Dean began to shut the bathroom door behind him, he quickly glanced over at Sam and was glad when Sam showed no signs of waking up. Dean turned on the water and washed his face. What he didn't hear was the facet squeak as he turned it on. He also hadn't heard the door loudly click into place, as he shut it.

Sam awoke with a start. He had intentionally slept lightly, in case something happened while they slept. He was accustomed to Dean being the one on the look-out. But since Dean was deaf, Sam knew that it was up to him to keeps his ears open – literally. After the bathroom door clicked, Sam's eyes flew open. As he began to quickly look around the room for any potential threats, he heard the bathroom facet squeak on. Closing his eyes and laying his head back on the pillow, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Dean using the bathroom. Sam tried to slow his racing heart rate, as he took solace in the fact that nothing was amiss and that it had just been his brother's morning routine that had awoken him.

"Dean, you want me to run out and get us some breakfast?" Sam asked loudly. Sam snorted when his question didn't get an answer. He really hadn't expected one; but, he had had a little bit of hope that Dean's hearing might have returned. Sam draped an arm over his face and dozed off. He was startled awake by the sound of a phone going off. Sam sat up and looked around the room for the offending piece of equipment. He was surprised to see Dean standing across the room, with his back to Sam. Just to Dean's left was the table, on which the ringing phone sat.

"De.." Sam started and then recalled that Dean couldn't hear the phone. Sam quickly got off the bed and grabbed it.

Although Sam's quick movements allowed him to reach the phone before the call went to voicemail, Dean had not been aware that the phone was ringing or that Sam had been awakened. All Dean saw was some quick, unexpected movement out of the corner of his eye and his reflexes allowed him to immediately respond to the movement. Dean quickly spun to his left and raised his arms in a defensive position. Dean was startled to see Sam standing there, talking on the phone, next to him. Annoyed at himself for over-reacting, Dean shook his head and sat down on his bed. Luckily, Sam had been so engrossed in the phone call, that he hadn't noticed Dean's reaction. Dean took some calming breathes and tried to calm his frayed nerves. Being deaf was more taxing than he thought it would be. He knew that he needed to maintain his composure and not let Sam know how upset he was with being deaf. He really had thought that his hearing would have returned by this morning. Before falling asleep last night, he had firmly believed that his hearing would return while he sleep. Needless to say, he was very disappointed to awaken and find himself still deaf. Dean looked up and noticed that Sam was still talking on the phone. It was then that Dean realized that Sam was talking on Dean's phone. Who was Sam talking to? Who had tried to call Dean and was now talking to his brother? Had the hot chick from the bar from two nights ago decided to call Dean? What was her name… Beth… Belinda… Bessie? If Sam was talking to her and arranging to meet her, Dean was going to kick his butt. Sure, Sam wasn't as smooth as Dean was, when it came to picking up women; but, that didn't give Sam the right to hit on ones that Dean already had his eye on. Dean watched as Sam closed the phone and put it back on the table.

"Well? Care to share with the rest of the class?" Dean asked.

Sam spun around, with a shocked expression on his face. Dean couldn't help but notice that Sam's mouth was now moving amazingly fast. Dean sadly shook his head and then tossed a small pad of paper and pen at Sam.

"Dude, not even a speed reader could keep up with those lips of yours. If you want to tell me something, you better write it down." Dean watched as Sam's face saddened. Dean realized that Sam had mistakenly assumed that Dean's hearing had returned. Dean kept his face neutral and didn't let Sam know that he too was upset about the deafness.

Sam sat down, on a nearby chair and began to scribble something on the pad. After a couple minutes and a couple pages, Sam gave Dean the pad.

Dean accepted the pad. But before reading it, he said, "Sam a simple answer would have sufficed. I didn't mean for you to write an essay." Sam just rolled his eyes at his brother.

_'Bobby called. He wanted to know how we did on the hunt. The warehouse explosion was on the news and he had a feeling that we might have been there. Told him that we were fine. He wanted to know why you didn't answer your phone and I told him that I got to it first. Don't think he totally believed me. He said that we may want to lie low for a bit, since the news mentioned that two men had been spotted outside the warehouse shortly after the explosion._

_He said that he's going out of town for a bit; but that, he'll have his cell on him. He mentioned that he's not really going on a hunt, just trying to track down some more information on stuff. He wouldn't tell me what 'stuff' he was looking for._

_Look, I did some research last night. I think you're hearing problem might be rather serious and we really should get you to a doctor. Now, before you say anything just read what all I wrote._ Dean looked up at Sam and rolled his eyes, before continuing to read Sam's note. _Your deafness was caused by the intense noise created by the explosion. The noise caused 'acoustic trauma', which resulted in your loss of hearing. Now, there has been some research on how to treat it; but, nothing is very conclusive. However, there was mention of strict noise avoidance, which seems to help. But, nothing is guaranteed to work. It seems as though the doctors really can't say when or if one's ears can recover, after this type of trauma. Even if the hearing comes back, it doesn't always come back 100 and at times, people land up needing hearing aids. So, I think we should pack up, get a couple states away from here and get you to a doctor."_

Sam closely watched Dean read his note. He wasn't totally surprised when Dean lifted his head and rolled his eyes. Sam had expected that response and smiled, after Dean returned his attention to the note. Sam had tried to keep the note as short as possible; but, he still wanted to make certain that he got his point across. Until now, Sam never realized how much was verbally said, until he had to write out his thoughts for Dean. Sam's typing was faster than his writing. So in the future, if he had a lot to say, he may just grab his laptop and type everything out. Sam anxiously waited to see how Dean reacted to what had been written. Sam had left some things out, in his note. During his research, Sam learned that people with acoustic trauma should not listen to loud music for an extended period of time and should avoid activities such as firing guns. If Dean's hearing returned, Sam knew that there really was no way to keep Dean from firing a gun and telling Dean that he had to listen to his mullet rock on low volume would only result in the music being played even louder. But for now, there was no guarantee that Dean's hearing would return. If it did, then Sam would worry about finding ways to protect his brother's ears from loud noises.

Dean could feel Sam watching him. However, he wasn't yet ready to discuss the note and purposefully gave the appearance of still reading it. Sam had mentioned that doctors really couldn't help restore a person's hearing and that all you could really do was wait and see whether or not the hearing returned on its own. With that in mind, Dean raised his head and looked at Sam.

"Well, grab your stuff and let's get outta here."

Sam was shocked. He had expected Dean to argue about seeing a doctor and had not expected Dean to react the way he was.

"Really? You'll…" Sam stopped himself. Dean was able to talk; but, Sam had to remember that he had to write down his remarks. Quickly, Sam grabbed back the pad and jotted down his comment. As he did this, Dean had turned and was gathering together their stuff. Upon finishing his remark, Sam tapped Dean on the shoulder and gave him the pad.

_'You'll see a doctor? Where are we headed? I'll call ahead and make an appointment with a specialist?'_

Dean adamantly shook his head. "That's not what I said. We can't hang around here, if the cops are looking for two men from the warehouse. Plus, you said yourself that the doctors really can't help someone with my type of injury."

Sam noticed that Dean's volume had risen and his tone had changed, as he said the last sentence. If Dean had not been deaf, he would not have allowed his speech to reveal so much. For the most part, when Dean spoke, he kept his tone even and the volume under control. But at the same time, Dean really didn't say very much; so, it was probably out of habit that his speech was pretty normal, despite his deafness. It was when Dean spoke more than a sentence or two, that Sam noticed the varying range of Dean's tone and volume. Sam had never realized how much one's speech is influenced by their ability to hear. Sure, Dean was able to say words and form sentences. But due to the deafness, Dean was unable to control his tone, volume, etc.

For now, Sam saw no reason to argue with Dean about seeing a doctor. While Sam wouldn't admit it to Dean, Sam admitted to himself that Dean had a point. Based on his research, Sam had learned that all the doctors could really do was measure the degree of the deafness and make suggestions. But in the end, you just had to wait it out and see what happened. Sam began packing up his stuff; but, he made certain that he put the pad and pen in his pants pocket. As Sam put his gear in the car, he saw that Dean had climbed into the driver's seat. Sam was about to questions Dean's choice; but, decided to see how well Dean did driving deaf, before he said anything.


	7. Chapter 7

Now hundreds of miles later and a couple states away from where they had been, Sam tried to get comfortable. Dean's driving really hadn't been too bad. Although, Sam had noticed that Dean paid a lot more attention to his rear and side mirrors. Presumably, Dean was compensating for his deafness by paying more attention to his mirrors and what went on around him. Sam looked out his side window and wondered what was going through his brother's head. Dean was accustomed to driving with the music on. Now, Dean could have turned the music on; but, his deafness would have kept him from appreciating it. Sam too was accustomed to hearing his brother's music fill the car and actually missed it, although he would never admit that to Dean. Again, Sam shifted in the seat and tried to find some position that gave relief to his sore body. Hunting took a toll on his body; but, these long drives seemed to also have a similar effect.

Dean once again looked at his side mirrors and then the rearview mirror. There were no other vehicles around them. It was going on one in the morning and traffic was none existent. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Sam seemed to be unable to find a comfortable position. He understood why Sam was tiring from the ride. They had been driving all day, with just a few very quick breaks. A knot had formed between Dean's shoulder blades from the drive and the intense concentration, which he was doing in order to compensate for the deafness. He knew that Sam would have been willing to do some of the driving, and appreciated the fact that Sam had let Dean do all the driving. Dean needed to feel that he had some control over something, since his hearing seemed to have decided to fail him. Dean slowly rolled his shoulders and tried to ease the tension.

In the distance, Dean noticed a neon sign that said vacancy. Deciding that they had put enough distance between themselves and their last hunt, Dean pulled the Impala into the empty parking lot of Good Vibrations Inn. It didn't look like much; but at least, it didn't look too run down. Dean brought the car to a stop outside the Inn's office. Sam got out of the Impala and after giving his back a good stretch, he went in and got them a room. Upon exiting the office, Sam held up eight fingers and pointed Dean in the direction of the room. Instead of joining Dean in the car, Sam opted to walk to their room, which wasn't far from the office. Dean parked the Impala, in front of their room, and began to unpack their stuff. Sam opened the door to their room and then grabbed his gear from the car. Laden with their stuff, both brothers entered their room. It wasn't impressive; but, it was clean and didn't have a funky odor to it. As usual, Dean claimed the bed closest to the door. Sam put his own gear next to his bed and flopped down onto the welcoming bed.

"Be right back," Dean said as he headed out the door and back into the night.

Sam closed his eyes. A few minutes later, they shot open. Why had Dean left and where had he gone?! Normally, Sam wouldn't have been worried about Dean stepping out; but due to his deafness, Sam felt compelled to keep an eye on Dean. Sam was getting up from the bed, when the door opened and Dean came back into their room.

Dean entered the room carrying some vending machine snacks. They hadn't eaten much on the road, and he wanted something to eat before going to bed. Dean hadn't seen much of a town, before pulling into the Inn's parking lot and figured that they probably wouldn't find any restaurants open at this time of the morning. So, that only left him with whatever the vending machine happened to have in-stock. Fortunately, the machine was well stocked and Dean had been glad to see a nice variety. In addition to the food, Dean had also grabbed them some sodas. After shutting the door behind him, Dean placed the food on a table. Grabbing a bag of chips and candy bar for himself, Dean went and sat down on his bed. Dean watched as Sam got up and went to inspect what Dean had bought. After grabbing some crackers and a granola bar, Sam returned to his own bed.

The boys silently ate their food. It wasn't companionable silence. Instead, it was forced silence. Dean could have spoken to Sam; but, Sam could only have written down his answers. And since Sam was eating, Dean didn't want Sam to waste time on writing anything down. So, the boys sat there, eating their food and lost in their own thoughts. After they had finished, without a word, they got ready for bed.

As Dean lay in bed, he stared at the ceiling. Normally, he would have said goodnight to Sam; but tonight, that just felt wrong, Sure, Dean could have said it; but, Dean wouldn't have heard Sam's normal reply of "'night". With some regret, Dean finally fell asleep.

Sam lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling. Dean hadn't said goodnight to him. That felt wrong. In the past, Dean hadn't said goodnight, when he was pissed at Sam or when Dean was so exhausted that he passed out before his head even hit the pillow. Tonight however, Sam knew that Dean probably hadn't said it because Dean wouldn't have heard Sam's reply. Sam was an adult and understood why Dean had silently gone to bed; but, that still didn't keep it from hurting Sam a little bit. Sam prayed that Dean's hearing returned soon, because all this silence was becoming unnerving. After a little tossing and turning, Sam was finally able to fall asleep.

A few hours later, Dean awoke with a start. Something had roused him from his sleep and he didn't know what that was. As he lay there and became aware of his surroundings, Dean realized that his bed was vibrating. Not just the mattress; but, the entire bed, including the head board, was vibrating. Grabbing his knife out from under his pillow, Dean quickly got off his bed and turned on a light, which immediately caused Sam to wake up as well.


	8. Chapter 8

"Dean, what…" Sam drowsily said. Recalling that Dean couldn't hear him, Sam quickly grabbed the pad and pen. However, before starting to write, Sam quickly and expertly looked around the room for any potential threats. Not seeing anything, Sam began to write.

Dean noticed that Sam was about to write and decided to get to the point. "Sam, my bed. It's moving." As Dean continued to look around the room, he saw that other things in the room, such as a hanging picture, were also moving a bit. Through his bare feet, Dean could feel a vibration coming from the wood floor.

Sam gave Dean an odd look and then glanced over at Dean's bed. After a couple seconds, Sam realized what was going on. Hastily, Sam scribbled down the explanation to Dean and handed the pad to his brother.

'_Train. There must be train tracks close by and a heavy load is going by. It's causing everything to vibrate.'_

Dean looked up from the pad, at Sam's face. "A train? That's all it is?" Sam nodded his head. "Hmph. Guess that explains the 'Good Vibrations' name. Although, I think they should mention that little part, before disturbing a man's sleep." As Dean got back into bed, he shut off the light. "Night Sam."

Unheard, Sam replied, "Night Dean."

/SN/

In the morning, Sam was the first to wake up. Fortunately, no additional trains had gone by during the night. As Sam went through his morning routine, he occasionally looked over at his sleeping brother. He found it hard to believe that Dean was deaf. It had been more than twenty-four hours, and still, Sam was trying to come to terms with Dean's hearing loss. Despite all his research, Sam had been unable to find out how long it might be, before the hearing might return. Taking Dean to a doctor would be rather fruitless. In addition to Dean's earlier remark, Sam's own research revealed that there really wasn't much a doctor could do that would ensure the hearing would return. At this point, their best bet was to take some time off and see what happened.

Just as Sam finished getting dressed, he saw Dean beginning to rouse. Grabbing a pen and paper, Sam wrote down a note and waited for Dean to be more awake. Once Dean had sat up, on the side of his bed, Sam handed the paper to Dean.

_'Morning Sunshine. Feel like going out for breakfast? Or, should I just run out and grab something for us.'_

Dean read the note and then looked up at Sam. "Just run out and grab something."

Sam noted a sadness in Dean's face. Like Sam, had Dean hoped for the hearing to have returned? Since his ears were failing to recover quickly, did Dean feel like his body was betraying him? This wasn't something that could be easily brushed off. If Dean's hearing didn't return, then the brothers would have to make a serious decision as to what Dean's future would be. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. But if something didn't change soon, the brothers would be left with no other choice.

/SN/

After a quick stop at the Inn's office for directions, Sam headed to a local restaurant for breakfast. As Sam drove to the restaurant, he noticed that they had stopped in a small town. From what he could see, there really wasn't much to the place. It seemed like a small town; but, he was surprised to see several signs for hotels and bed and breakfasts. Sam wondered if perhaps the place got busy in the summertime, since that would explain the need for having several places for people to stay. Sam easily found a place to park, in the restaurant's parking lot.

As Sam entered the establishment, a small bell was rung. Sam walked up to the counter and grabbed a menu, which was propped up between a ketchup bottle and a napkin holder. A quick glance around the place revealed that it wasn't very busy. The people seated at the booths seemed to be locals and didn't pay much attention to Sam. Sam perused the menu and debated what Dean might want to eat. Dean usually wasn't a picky-eater. However since his mood seemed to be a bit down this morning, Sam wanted to pick something really good for him.

"What can I get for you?" A young waitress asked Sam. Her voice was soft and alluring. When Sam looked up, he was transfixed by her sparkling blue eyes, which seemed to invite him to swim in their depths. So mesmerized by her voice and eyes, Sam almost forgot why he was there. A light tap of her pen on a writing pad reminded him why he had a menu in his hands.

"Uh, yeah. I'd like to order some food to go, please." Sam quickly recovered. "Two large coffees, a 'Hungry Man's Breakfast Special', and a regular breakfast platter. Do you have any apple pie?"

"Sure do. Just pulled it out of the oven only ten minutes ago." She replied. The smile never left her lips, which Sam just couldn't seem to get his eyes off of.

"Could I have a slice to go as well?"

"Sure thing. Have a seat and I'll go place your order." She said, as she turned to head into the kitchen.

Sam watched her leave, still in awe by her beauty and voice. There was something about her that made him want to stay at the restaurant and eat his meal there, instead of back at the Inn. He could feel his face flush a bit, as his thoughts began to wander even more. Sam quickly shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. Jeez, he was spending way too much time around Dean. Now, he was starting to think like his brother.

A cup of coffee was placed on the counter, in front of Sam. Questioningly, Sam looked up.

"On the house, while you wait for your meals." The waitress replied to Sam's look. "We don't get too many visitors here during the off-season. Where you from?"

"Here and there. We tend to travel a lot. Off-season?" Sam hoped none of the other patrons needed any service, since he just wanted her to stay and talk with him.

"Yeah. We're only a few miles from the beach. In the warmer months, people will some times stay here, instead of paying those outrageous fees that those beach front places charge." She shook her head, as though it should be a crime for how businesses took advantage of beach-going travelers. "If you ask me, the best time to be here is when the town is mainly occupied by the locals. No offense to out-of-towners." She gave a slight nod of her head towards Sam, as though she feared her remark might upset him. "It's just that when the town gets packed with everyone, it's harder to get around this place and parking can be just plain miserable."

"That's understandable. I find that most places are best visited, during the off-season. Vacationers can get so caught up in their trip, that they forget to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures that a small town like this can offer." He said with a small smile on his face. Jeez, was he trying to gain her favor, by complimenting her town? He knew that it had been a while, since he'd been with a woman; but still, that didn't explain his sudden desire to keep all her attention to himself. She worked here and was accustomed to waiting on people and meeting their needs. And yet right now, she made him feel special. She made him feel like he shouldn't worry about anything and that she knew what was best. And those blue eyes of hers… he felt like he could easily drown in them.

"Order up." A male voice said, somewhere in the back.

"That would be yours. I'll be right back."

Again, Sam watched her leave. He wondered whether or not she might have a boyfriend. For his sake, he hoped she didn't. After only a couple minutes, she returned with a large brown bag. Even though he had no desire to leave, he paid his tab, grabbed the bag and headed back to the Impala. He really wished that Dean had decided to eat out, instead of making Sam grab breakfast. On second thought, no. It was better that Dean had stayed at the Inn, instead of coming with Sam. Sam had no doubts that Dean would have been hitting on her, the second he entered the place and saw her. Sam got back to their room and was not surprised to see Dean seated at the table. However, he was slightly stunned to see Dean holding his phone in his hand. With one hand, Dean took the bag from Sam and with the other, he handed his phone to Sam.

"Bobby called. You better call him back; so, he doesn't start worrying."

Sam gave Dean a questioningly look.

"What?" Dean gave Sam an exasperated look. "I saw the phone moving on the table. It must have been on vibrate. I picked it up and saw Bobby's number on the screen. Not like I could answer it. It would have been a very one-sided conversation." Dean said flatly.

Sam nodded and saw that a message had been left on Dean's phone. While Dean pulled the food out of the bag, Sam checked the message. Returning the phone to Dean, Sam grabbed the pad and pencil.

_'Bobby called to say that his phone probably won't be working for a day or two. He said he's gong to an area that gets zero service and didn't want us worrying, in case he wasn't quick to return a call.'_

Sam didn't mention that Bobby had also asked why Dean didn't answer his phone. That could be left for some other time.

Dean was already diving into his food. "Mmm. This is really good." He said around a mouthful of sausage and pancake.

Sam shook his head, at his brother's need to talk and eat at the same time. The rest of the meal was consumed in companionable silence. Afterwards, the boys threw their trash away and Dean looked at Sam.

"So, we staying here or moving on to the next town?"

Sam's mind immediately went back to the waitress at the restaurant. Dean's question hadn't been unusual and normally, Sam would have been fine with moving on. But, he really wanted to see that waitress again. As nonchalantly as he could, he shrugged his shoulders. Grabbing the pad and pencil, he began to write.

'_Whatever you want. It seems like a nice enough place. Don't see any reason to hit the road, unless you have some place in mind.'_

Jokingly, Dean asked, "Ok, what's her name?" The blush that quickly developed on Sam's face caught Dean off guard. Dang, Dean had only been joking; but based on Sam's reaction, Sam may have his own reason to stay in town.

Sam was trying to get his patented, innocent puppy-dog face to appear; but, he just couldn't seem to do it. How in the world did Dean know about the waitress?! There was no way that Dean could have known about her, right?! Sam watched Dean's face and realized that Dean's remark had been said as a joke and that he wouldn't have known anything, had it not been for Sam's reaction to the question.

"Uh, huh. You plan on getting some good vibrations of your own going on, later today? Need me to go out for a bit, while you do your thing?" Dean teased his brother.

_'Jerk.'_

Dean just laughed and got up from the table. "I'll let you decide how long we should stay here. And when you do, head down to the office and let them know how long we'll need the room." With one last chuckle, Dean sat down on his bed and picked up a magazine to read.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam watched Dean open the magazine, and then, he got up himself and looked out a window. How long should they stay in town? Seemed like a simple enough question. But, Sam just couldn't come up with a simple answer. Normally, upon completing a hunt, they would be busy looking for the next one. But due to Dean's deafness, Sam knew that that was not an option right now. Dean's health took priority, even if Dean himself didn't always think so. Sam could easily recall numerous times, when Dean was hurt and still moved on to another hunt. As long as Dean could remain upright and keep a steady hold of his gun, Dean couldn't easily be swayed to think that he should not hunt or should take a break from hunting. Sam knew that this forced break was going to bother Dean. Besides some bruising and the deafness, Dean hadn't suffered any other injuries from the explosion. Without Dean's hearing, Sam knew that despite Dean's best efforts that Dean would not be able to safely hunt. Sure, the type of hunting they did wouldn't normally be called safe. But, their hunting did follow certain guidelines and one of those guidelines stated that they did not go into a hunt when they were physically impaired. And being deaf, definitely fell under "physically impaired". Sam's shoulders slouched and he lowered his head, as he thought about Dean's deafness. Sam had always looked up to his brother. And while Sam knew that Dean wasn't indestructible, Sam tended to see Dean as being somewhat invincible. It had always seemed like no matter how bad things got, Dean could persevere through anything. Dean never threw in the towel and gave up. Dean might do a strategic withdraw; but, that was only done to give Dean time to come up with a new plan of action. This time though, Sam wasn't sure what type of plan Dean could come up with that would compensate for the hearing loss.

Sam's thoughts inadvertently began to focus on the waitress, who he had met at the restaurant. He hadn't even caught her name. He couldn't recall her wearing a name tag, although, his eyes had been more focused on hers and other parts of her body. Sam could feel his face getting warmer and was glad that his back was to Dean. If he and Dean were going to spend some down time, this seemed like a nice enough place to do it. Sam just hoped that he would get to see more of the waitress, and hopefully, not just at the restaurant. A sly smile appeared on his face. He quickly shook his head. He really was spending way too much time around Dean.

Sam looked back at Dean, before he headed out of the room. He walked down to the office and told them that they would need the room for a few more days. Sam knew that staying in one place for a long period of time, was not a good idea. And despite his wish to see the waitress, he didn't want to jeopardize Dean's or his safety, by staying too long.

Dean looked up from the magazine, as Sam went out the door. He wondered how long Sam had decided that they would remain here. Dean wouldn't have minded moving along; but since Sam seemed to have met some one, Dean didn't see why they couldn't hang around for a bit. Plus, thanks to his deafness, it wasn't like Dean was in any shape to take on a new hunt. He knew that he should be thankful that he got out of the exploding warehouse alive; but coming out deaf, didn't seem to make it worth celebrating. A lot of what he did relied on hearing what went on around him. How could he question some one, when he wouldn't be able to hear their response? What was he to say… "Excuse me; but, I'm deaf. Would you mind writing down your answer for me?" Yeah, that would go over real well! Frustrated, Dean slammed his magazine down on the bed and stood up. Hell, Dean couldn't even answer his own phone. Unless a person sent him a text message, Dean would have no way of knowing why they were calling. And last night proved why Dean wouldn't do well on a hunt. He'd jumped up out of bed, armed with a knife and ready to fight. Yeah, like a knife really would have done him a lot of good against a train?! A train! Of all things that might cause Dean to jump out of bed, a train had never been on that list, sure werewolves, poltergeist and stuff like that were on the list; but, a train never would have made it to the list. Normally, Dean would head to a bar and clear his head. But, he wouldn't even be able to talk to the bartender about what was on tap. And if some one developed a beef with him, he wouldn't know it, until after the fists were flying. To make it even worse, he couldn't even work on his baby. Sure, he could change the oil, since you didn't need to listen to anything to do that. But when it came to fine tuning his baby, he couldn't even do that. How do you fine tune something, when you can't even hear how it sounds to begin with?!

Dean paced around the room. He felt like a caged animal. Except, instead of the room's walls acting as bars to the cage, Dean's deafness had created its own set of invisible bars. It allowed him to only be able to interact to a certain point with his surroundings and the rest was cut off from him. He could open his mouth and say stuff; but, he couldn't even hear what was coming out of his own mouth, let alone what came out of the mouths of other people. He couldn't hear the sound of his Impala, or a TV, or even a loaded train. He had to rely on Sam to let him know what was going on. Sam?! Dean shook his head. He'd never admit it to Sam; but, Dean even missed hearing Sam's voice. Sure, the kid could talk a person's ear off and could bore one to death with unnecessary little details. But right now, all Dean wanted was to hear Sam's voice again. And there wasn't any guarantee that that would even be possible ever again.

Dean rarely allowed himself to get dark and down like this; but, he seemed to be unable to stop his downward spiral. He couldn't even listen to his music, in an attempt to cheer himself up. So many things that Dean did on a daily basis, required that he be able to hear. Dean had never really stopped to think how much he relied on his hearing… until now.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam headed back to their room, after leaving the Inn's office. As he neared the door, he stopped. What would he do, once he went inside? There wasn't any pressing research that he needed to do. He could probably just get on the net and… Nah, he really wasn't in the mood to get on the computer. Maybe, he could read a book. Nope, he really didn't feel like doing that either. He had managed to get their laundry done, during the last hunt; so, he couldn't even do that. Dean's injury was not the type of injury, which required Sam to clean and treat it. So, he couldn't even busy himself with caring for Dean's injury. Sam sighed. He was bored. This forced break was really throwing Sam for a loop. He wouldn't have any reason to see the waitress, until lunch time and that was still a few hours away. Sam looked out at the Inn's parking lot. The main street was nearby and Sam saw and heard the traffic that was on it. To the left was a park and Sam could see and hear the kids playing there. Sam could also hear birds singing. Sam sadly closed his eyes, as he realized how much Dean was missing out on, due to his deafness. Dean?! How would Dean spend his down time? Dean couldn't listen to the TV or listen to his music. Dean couldn't even go to a local bar and chat up the waitresses. Dean was going to get so bored that he was going to probably drive Sam crazy. Bored Dean tended to mean that Sam became the target of pranks. Sam lifted his head and squared his shoulders. No use putting it off, he better get back to Dean.

Dean was sitting at the table and looking at the door. After pacing the room a bit, he had quickly gotten tired of it and sat down to wait for Sam. Dean was bored. The weapons were already clean and laundry was already done. The Impala was up-to-date with its oil change and the tires didn't even need to be rotated. Normally, when Dean was bored he came up with pranks to pull on Sam; but, Dean didn't feel up to doing that. Even if he pulled a prank on Sam, Dean would miss out on Sam's vocal response to the trick. And since Sam's verbal outbursts were always good for a laugh and since the hearing loss wouldn't allow Dean to hear the outburst, Dean just didn't see any reason to even plan a prank. When Dean saw the door open, he was surprised by how happy he felt to see Sam.

Sam entered the room and found that Dean was just sitting at the table. That seemed innocent enough, unless Dean had already set up a prank and was waiting for Sam to walk into it. Sam closed the door and stopped. He looked at Dean and saw… something. Dean didn't have that spark in his eyes that he usually had. Dean looked tired and something else… lost… melancholy… something like that. Sam was now a little concerned. Was the deafness already affecting Dean's mood? If so, that was understandable. But, Sam just had a hard time seeing his brother like this. Sam quickly spotted the pad and pen and grabbed them.

_'Want to go out for a bit? The town is nice and not too busy. I heard that the beach isn't far from here and we could even head out there for a bit.'_

Dean just shrugged his shoulder and said, "sure, whatever you want."

Sam wished that Dean would have shown a little more enthusiasm; but, he was glad that Dean had agreed to leave the room. As they headed towards the Impala, Dean tossed Sam the keys. Sam gave Dean a questioning look.

"What? Kinda hard for you to give me directions, when I can't hear, isn't it?"

Sam gave a quick nod of his head and got in on the driver's side of the car. Dean's reason made sense; but, Sam didn't like how easily Dean used his deafness as an excuse.

Together, the brothers drove around and looked at what the town had to offer. Despite being a small town, it had a nice variety of shops and places to stop. To Sam, it was obvious that the town had done what it could to come up with ways to encourage tourists to spend their money in town, instead of spending it all at the beach. A small smile ghosted across Sam's face, as he recalled the waitress's remark about the money-hungry, beachfront businesses.

In less than an hour, the boys had driven around town and seen what it had to offer. Sam then directed the car in the direction of the beach. It may have been winter and the beach was surely going to be cold; but, Sam wanted to keep Dean out of their room, as long as he could. They soon reached the beach. As expected, the beach was deserted. Sam parked the car and got out. He walked onto the sand and looked out at the ocean. Without turning his head, he listened for the Impala's door to open and for Dean to join him. After a few minutes, Dean finally got out and came to stand near Sam.

A cold breeze was blowing off the ocean, with a few gulls gliding along its wind current. Sam and Dean both breathed in the salty air. Sam closed his eyes and listened to the waves lapping onto the shore. A couple seconds later, he quickly opened them. He had gotten so caught up in enjoying the change in scenery, that he had forgotten about Dean's deafness. As Sam listened to the waves, he felt guilty, as though he was cheating Dean from the complete experience. Sam knew he wasn't to blame for Dean's hearing loss. But, as Sam listened to the sounds of the beach, he felt like he really shouldn't be enjoying himself. Sam tried to shut out the sounds of the beach, in order to understand what Dean was experiencing; but try as he might, Sam just couldn't ignore all the sounds that surrounded him.

Dean stood next to Sam and stared out at the ocean. He rarely spent time at the beach. Most of his hunts were inland and were rarely near the ocean. Even when a hunt brought him to a beach, he never really had time to enjoy himself. Sure, he enjoyed the bathing beauties as they soaked up some sun; but, he only got to do a little bit of that, since most of his focus was usually spent on the hunt itself. And now when he had some down time to spend at a beach, there were no nearly naked beauties sunning themselves and he couldn't hear the sounds of the ocean and beach. To be honest, with the exception of the breeze and ocean air, he might as well have been watching a video, of a beach, with the volume on mute. Not being able to hear the water and gulls really seemed to minimize the entire experience. Despite his limited beach exposure, Dean knew what he was missing. He knew how the sound of waves lapping onto a beach added to the whole experience. And since it was the winter time, he didn't even get to enjoy a hot, summer sun. The entire outing was getting more and more depressing by the second. Dean turned and went back to the Impala.

Sam soon joined Dean back to the car. Grabbing the pad and pen, he wrote:

_'Want to get something to eat?'_

After reading the note, Dean shook his head and replied, "Nah, just take me back to our room. Then, you can run out and get something. Perhaps, you'll even run into that chick of yours again."


	11. Chapter 11

For the next few days, the brothers seemed to fall into a pattern

For the next few days, the brothers seemed to fall into a pattern. Sam ran out, bought all their meals, and then, ate with Dean back at their room. Dean rarely left the room, except to go for short walks outside. However, even during these walks, Dean never went far from the Inn. Sam had offered to join Dean on a walk and was rewarded with a look that clearly said, 'no way'. Sam knew that Dean's deafness was causing his brother to become depressed; but, Sam had no idea what he could do about it. And unless Dean's hearing finally returned, Sam felt that there really was little he could do to help improve Dean's mood. Sam had even tried to get Dean to go out to a bar, and Dean had vehemently declined the offer. Sam had thought about calling Bobby. But, Sam doubted that Bobby could come up with a solution to the situation and Sam had gotten the impression from Dean, that Dean didn't want any one else to know about the deafness.

In addition to dealing with Dean's sour mood, Sam had managed to finally get the name of the waitress, who had gotten his attention. Not only did he get her name; but, he had also managed to spend some time with her, after her shift was over at the restaurant. In fact, Dean had been the one to encourage Sam to spend some time away from their room and had persuaded Sam to spend more time with the waitress. Although, he really hadn't needed too much persuasion from Dean, in order to spend more time with the woman.

To Sam, Nerisa, the waitress, was amazing. She wasn't just beautiful on the outside; but, she was just as beautiful on the inside. She was funny, compassionate, patient, understanding, and so much more. The more time Sam spent with her, the more he felt like he was falling deeply in love with her. He could easily listen to her talk all day and all night. And the way she spoke… it was as if her voice used words to weave a warm blanket around him. And those eyes… he frequently got lost in them, and while swimming in their depths, he easily forgot all his worries. Jessica had meant so much to Sam; but, Nerisa meant so much more. Sam couldn't tell Nerisa about the type of work he really did; but, Nerisa didn't seem interested in knowing Sam's employment history. Instead, she was totally focused on Sam the person and the type of person Sam was. Nerisa made Sam feel special and loved. After a while, the only time he left Nerisa was when he delivered food to the room, for Dean and ate with his brother. After the earlier drive to the beach, Sam had made a few more attempts to get Dean out of the room; but, none of them had worked. Instead, Dean seemed content to remain in his dismal mood and had made it clear to Sam that Sam should just go out and enjoy himself. So, that's exactly what Sam was doing. Nerisa had mentioned to Sam that she was off for the weekend and had suggested that the two of them head to the beach for a day or two. She knew some one who had a cottage on the beach and had gotten permission for them to use it. Sam was now counting down the days to when he and Nerisa would be together at the beach.

Of course, Sam had first told Dean of the beach plans, before promising Nerisa that he would go with her. Oddly enough, Dean had seemed fine with the idea of Sam and Nerisa going away for a while; but when Sam mentioned that they were headed to the beach, Dean seemed less keen about the whole idea. Politely, Sam had enquired if Dean had wanted to join them and thankfully, Dean had declined the offer. Dean did however tell Sam to be careful, and Sam didn't think that Dean meant for Sam to make certain that he didn't forget to wear protection. But then again, their lives normally dealt with being prepared for anything supernatural and Dean's remark was probably just made out of habit. Still, Sam hadn't planned on leaving Dean stuck in the room. Nerisa had her own car, which they would take; so, Dean would still have the Impala.

/SN/

After Sam informed Dean about the beach plans, Dean debated telling Sam that something supernatural might be going on at the beach. On one of his walks, Dean had stopped at a store, to get some reading material. He had picked up a couple magazines and a local paper. In the paper, there was a story about how the number of missing persons had increased over the years. In the story, it said that the missing persons were tourists and that they had all been last known to have been at the beach. The story said, that since no bodies had washed up on the shore, that officials doubted that all the people had drowned. After reading the article, Dean searched the internet and found a few more stories, about missing persons in there area. In addition to being tourists and going to the beach, all the persons had been male, except for one. The sole, female missing person had been the sister of a missing man. She had gone searching for her brother and had been staying at the beach. The majority of the people had gone missing during the summer months, although a few had gone missing during the off-season. Dean thought that there might be a case; but, he wasn't sure. For all he knew, the people could have done too much partying and drowned. And although no bodies had washed up on the beach, that didn't mean that the bodies hadn't been taken out to sea by the currents. Dean thought that this might be worth investigating; but then again, he was spending a lot of time in the room and his imagination could be starting to run wild. But still, the missing persons' article had caused Dean to become concerned, when Sam said that he was headed to the beach. Dean knew that he was probably overreacting; but… it never hurt to be a little cautious.

Dean had never met Nerisa. Sam had offered to arrange for them to meet each other; but, Dean had declined the offer. Dean had seen the affect that she had had on his brother, and Dean was just happy that Sam had found some one special. If Dean's hearing really didn't return, Dean was considering telling Sam to give up hunting. Dean wasn't keen on the idea of Sam hunting by himself. And if Dean couldn't be there to properly back Sam up, Dean felt that it would be better if Sam stopped hunting. Now that Sam had found a special gal, Dean felt that he might be able to use that relationship, as a means to convince Sam that Sam now had a chance to lead a normal life. Dean could tell that Sam was eagerly waiting for the weekend to arrive.

Although Dean decided not to tell Sam about the missing persons, Dean hadn't decided to stop looking into it himself. However, his deafness was really putting a pinch on how much he could do. Normally, Dean would have been out asking questions; but, that was very difficult to do when you can't hear the answers, and his lip-reading abilities were very limited. So, Dean was very restricted on how much research he could do. One night when Sam had left to visit Nerisa, Dean decided to take a drive in the Impala. After managing to drive a few miles, without incident, Dean decided to head to the beach. Once he got there, he sat nervously in the car. Initially, it had seemed so simple. He figured that he would drive to the beach and just walk around a bit. But upon arriving at the beach, he felt very unnerved. Dean was fairly certain that he would find nothing. But knowing that his deafness crippled his ability to properly investigate and made him more vulnerable to any possible attack, Dean was highly uncomfortable with the idea of getting out of his car and going for a walk. Instead, he sat there and watched the waves lap up onto the shore. After sitting there a few minutes, he tried to build up some nerve and even dared himself to walk out onto the sand. But no matter what he thought and how hard he tried, he just couldn't get over the feeling of complete vulnerability and that paralyzed him. Dean wasn't a man who got easily scared and until today, he wasn't a man who got paralyzed by fear. But right then, as he sat in his car and looked out at the beach, he was frozen in place. He just couldn't bring himself to exit the safety of the Impala. So, he started the car and headed back to their room.


	12. Chapter 12

On Friday morning, Sam woke up early. He and Nerisa planned on heading to the beach, after she finished with the lunch rush. As usual, Sam went to the restaurant and bought breakfast for himself and his brother. On the way back to the Inn, Sam contemplated what his future might be. Dean's hearing still had not returned and this worried Sam. Sam had done a little more research and had even called a few specialists. Everything he read and heard said that medically there really wasn't anything that could be done to ensure that Dean's hearing would return. It had been nearly a week, since the explosion and Dean's deafness had shown no signs of going away. To Sam's relief, Dean didn't seem as depressed, as he had been earlier in the week. In fact, Dean seemed somewhat content. Dean was upset about the hearing loss; but, he appeared to be coming to terms with it. However, Sam had no idea what Dean was thinking about and what plans Dean might be making for his future. Sam felt a little guilty for not pressing the matter with Dean and for spending so much time with Nerisa. But even when Sam tried to stay with Dean for a bit, Dean encouraged Sam to leave and see Nerisa. In fact, it seemed as though Dean wanted Sam to spend as much time as possible with Nerisa. Sam didn't mind; but, he was beginning to wonder if Dean had an ulterior motive for Sam and Nerisa to be together so much. As Sam neared the Inn, he decided that, after returning from the beach, he and Dean would sit down and discuss what they should do next, since Dean was still deaf.

Sam entered the room and saw that Dean was still asleep. Out of habit, Sam slightly bumped Dean's bed with his leg. The slight jarring of the bed was all that was needed to wake Dean. Earlier in the week, Sam had accidentally bumped Dean's bed and Dean had awoken. Since Dean was still deaf and didn't hear any noises that Sam made, Sam had decided to just bump Dean's bed, as a way of waking his brother. Dean looked up and smiled, as he caught a whiff of breakfast. Dean quickly joined Sam, at the table. The brothers ate their meal in silence. After they were done, Sam cleaned up the mess. But instead of Dean heading to the bathroom to get ready for the day, he just sat there. After Sam finished cleaning up, Dean handed Sam the pad and pen.

"So, you and Nerisa are leaving about 2?"

Sam nodded his head yes.

"Where will you be staying?"

_'A friend of hers has a cottage on the beach. We'll stay there.'_

"You coming back on Sunday or Monday?"

_'Probably some time on Sunday. She has to work Monday morning.'_

"Do you got enough cash on you?"

Sam nodded his head yes.

"You pack everything already?"

Again, Sam nodded his head yes.

"What weapons you taking with you?" Dean asked nonchalantly.

Sam's eyes shot wide open and he gave his brother a very questioning look. "What?!" Sam said aloud, as he also wrote down the word.

"I just want to know that you're not letting your guard down too much. Doesn't hurt to be prepared." Dean said matter-of-factly.

_'What's with all the questions? Something I should know about?'_

Dean kept his eyes on Sam, as he answered his brother's questions. "I just want to know that you didn't forget to pack anything. If it helps, my next question was going to be "did you remember to pack your toothbrush?'" Dean said with a grin.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head; only his brother's packing checklist would have weapons listed before toothbrush. Sam grabbed his duffel and from the bottom of it, he pulled out a silver knife and a 9mm gun.

With a small, proud smile on his face, Dean said, "that's my boy."

Sam shook his head and returned the weapons to their concealed place.

"But, you forgot your toothbrush, didn't you?"

_'I was letting the bristles dry a bit, before I packed it.'_

Dean shook his head. "You are such a girl sometimes."

It was soon time for Sam to leave. Once again, Dean debated telling Sam about the missing persons. However, since Dean wanted Sam to develop a better relationship with Nerisa, Dean chose not to worry Sam about a possible case. After all, Dean really hadn't found any strong evidence proving that this was even the sort of thing that they would normally deal with. So, Dean just watched Sam walk out the door and remained silent.


	13. Chapter 13

Shortly after Sam left, Dean was preparing to go on his own little trip. During his research, Dean found that the missing brother and sister had lived not too far from where Dean was staying. In fact, it was just a little over an hour drive away. Dean had his cell; so if Sam did text him, Sam wouldn't know that Dean was no longer at the Inn. Dean wasn't too happy about doing this on his own, since his hearing still had failed to return. But, he also didn't want to bother Sam with something that probably would amount to nothing. As Dean drove to the parents' of the missing siblings, he pondered what kind of story he would use. He couldn't easily hide his deafness and he still needed some way for them to communicate with him. Fortunately, Sam had not taken the laptop; so, Dean now had it with him.

Dean stopped at a gas station, which was just a few miles from the parents' home. He grabbed his box of IDs and went through them. He found one that identified him as a reporter and decided to use it. He sat there a couple minutes and tried to come up with a believable cover story. After deciding what he was going to say, Dean started the Impala and went to the missing siblings' home.

Dean brought the Impala to a stop, outside the home. He took a deep breath and got out of the car, with the laptop under his left arm. Nervously, he approached the front door. Normally, Dean would have no problem interviewing some one; however, being deaf was really throwing Dean off his game. He reminded himself that he was just asking people some questions and that this would be a cake walk.

Dean knocked on the door and waited. The door was answered by a woman, who appeared to be in her 50's. Not giving the woman a chance to say anything, Dean quickly spoke up.

"Hi. My name is Dean Panozzo, from the Eagles Stick Tribune. I'm looking for Mrs. Fletcher." Dean held up his hand, as the woman was about to answer. "Sorry. I'm deaf. Could you just shake your head yes or no? Are you Mrs. Fletcher?"

With a quizzical look on her face, the woman nodded her head yes.

"I know this is weird; but, please bear with me. I recently had an accident that has temporarily left me deaf; but, my boss still expects me to write articles for his paper. I would like to ask you a few questions and I brought my laptop." Dean indicated the laptop, which he was carrying. "Since I can't hear, I got some software that transcribes what people say. This way, you won't have to write down your answer and I'll know what's being said. I'm really sorry about this." Dean hoped that his voice sounded apologetic and gave the woman a very apologetic look, for good measure.

She gave Dean a small smile and gestured for him to come in. Dean entered the house and followed her into the dining room. He briefly went over what he knew about her missing son and daughter. With the laptop on and the software running, the woman replied to Dean's questions. Thankfully, the software was very quick and within a matter of seconds, Dean was able to read what had been said. Dean was surprised by how easy the interview was going. Even though he relied on the computer to inform him of what was being said, Dean frequently, accurately guessed what she was saying, based on her body language.

While the software aided in the conversation, Dean realized that the mother really wanted to talk about her missing children. It turned out that the authorities, in her opinion, really weren't taking the case seriously. Since there hadn't been any evidence of foul play and both kids were in their early 20's, the police felt that the missing brother and sister had simply decided to take off on their own and were choosing not to get in contact with their mother.

Initially, Mrs. Fletcher's son, Gary, had gone to the beach, with a bunch of friends from college. Spring semester had ended and they planned on blowing off some steam. A few days after getting to the beach, Gary called and told his mother how much fun he and the guys were having. A few days after that conversation, he called again and told his mother about this girl he met. A week passed and she hadn't heard from her son. So, she managed to reach one of the guys, who her son had gone to the beach with. She asked about her son and was told that he had gotten a job, near the beach and had met some girl. When his friends were ready to head home, Gary had decided to stay there. But when Gary's mom pressed for some more information, Gary's friend said the he too had tried to reach Gary and had been unable to, and that he had no clue where Gary was living and what the girl's name had been. After that phone call, Gary's mother filed the missing person's report. The police investigated but found nothing. They were unable to find where Gary had been working and saw no activity on any of Gary's credit cards. The police spoke to all the guys, who had gone to the beach with Gary. However, despite the fact that the guys all mentioned that Gary had found a job, none of them knew where he had been hired.

A few months after the police had started their investigation, Gary's mother was told by an officer that they were unable to find any evidence of a crime and that the police would leave the file open, should anything new arise. Gary's sister, Gloria, was upset with this and decided to look for her brother herself. Gloria was a little over a year younger than her brother. And although they didn't share the same friends and didn't have much in common, they were close. Gloria had also become upset, when she hadn't heard from her brother for so long. When Gary had gone missing, Gloria had been out of the country on a work study program. Gary's mother didn't want to upset her daughter; so, she didn't say much to Gloria about Gary, until Gloria returned home a few weeks later. Gloria had been hopeful that the police would find something and had been heartbroken, when the investigation had failed to find her brother. So, instead of attending fall semester classes, Gloria decided to go looking for Gary. Gloria went to where her brother and his friends had stayed and started from there. Initially, Gloria had no success. Then one day, she happened to visit a small town not far from the beach. She began talking to a waiter and he mentioned that a young man, matching Gary's description, had worked there for a short time. Gloria continued to look for clues about her brother and at one point, she called her mother to tell her that she thought she may have found the girl, who Gary had mentioned. That conversation was the last one that Mrs. Fletcher had with her daughter. After not being able to reach Gloria, Mrs. Fletcher found herself filing a missing person's report for her daughter. Again, the police investigated and found nothing.

Dean asked about Mr. Fletcher. Mrs. Fletcher replied that he died three months, before Gary left for the beach. Gary and his father had been very close. Mr. Fletcher had been diagnosed with cancer and had developed numerous complications. Gary had been steadfast, at his father's side, the entire time and had taken his father's death hard. Mrs. Fletcher said that she was relieved when Gary said that he would go to the beach with his friends, since he had been depressed about his father's death. She had been even more overjoyed, when he said that he had met a wonderful girl.

As Dean prepared to leave, Mrs. Fletcher asked if Dean would want to look through some of her daughter's research. A couple weeks after the police stopped working on her daughter's case, Mrs. Fletcher received a box, which contained her daughter's belongings, from the hotel where Gloria had been staying. Dean accepted her offer and was amazed by how thorough Gloria had been with her research and her documentation. As Dean perused Gloria's notes, he was impressed by how well organized everything was. In her notes, Gloria recalled phone conversations that she had had with Gary, prior to his disappearance. She commented on how depressed he had been and how his mood improved, after he met a certain waitress. For whatever reason, Gary did not tell any one the waitress's name and it wasn't until Gloria began investigating his disappearance, that she finally learned the girl's name. The girl's name was Nerisa.


	14. Chapter 14

Dean froze, when he read the waitress's name. Nerisa! That was the name of the girl, who Sam was now with. Nerisa was not a very common and Dean felt that the chances of the Nerisa, who Sam knew, being different from the Nerisa, who Gary knew, were very small. Dean quickly pulled out his cell phone and texted Sam. Dean simply asked for Sam to contact Dean right away. As he waited for Sam to return his message, Dean more thoroughly read Gloria's notes. Gloria commented on how upset Gary had been, about losing their father and how he really had a bleak outlook on what his own future would be. After meeting Nerisa, Gary's outlook on life improved and he commented on how she made him feel special. Gloria had been surprised on how Gary had fallen head-over-heels in love with the waitress. Gloria had also found it funny, when Gary frequently went on about Nerisa's blue eyes. Apparently, Gary had never been much of a poet or a romantic, and yet, after meeting Nerisa, Gloria remarked that her brother would frequently get amorous in his description of the waitress. Dean put Gloria's notes down and tried to recall what all Sam had said about Nerisa. To be honest, Sam had not verbally said anything about her. In the short notes which Sam wrote to Dean, Sam only gave brief descriptions. However, Dean recalled a starry-eyed look in Sam's eyes, when Dean had enquired about the waitress. Dean wondered if Sam hadn't written much, because he didn't know how to write down how he felt about her or perhaps, Sam just hadn't felt like writing down his thoughts about the girl. But, Dean clearly recalled that, on several occasions, Sam mentioned Nerisa's blue eyes.

Dean picked up Gloria's notes and continued to read. In the last two pages, of her documentation, she wrote that she had finally found where Nerisa lived and that Nerisa owned a place on the beach. Apparently, Nerisa rented an apartment, in the town where she worked. But, Nerisa owned a cottage on the beach. Since no more notes were added, Dean assumed that Gloria had decided to go to Nerisa's place and confront her. Dean quickly jotted down that addresses for Nerisa. Then, Dean put Gloria's notes back into the box. Dean found Mrs. Fletcher in the kitchen and asked if the police had questioned a girl named Nerisa. Gloria's mother told Dean that a police officer supposedly went to see Nerisa. Mrs. Fletcher added that the police hadn't really mentioned to her, what had been done or said, when Nerisa was questioned by the officer. Dean thanked Mrs. Fletcher for her time and quickly went back to his car.

After getting into the Impala, Dean texted Sam again. Dean then started the Impala up and headed back to the town, where they had been staying. Sam had never mentioned where Nerisa lived. Dean just knew that, in the evenings, Sam would spend time at her place. Dean recalled how upbeat Sam would be, after being with the waitress. At the time, Dean had thought nothing of it. In fact, Dean had just been happy that Sam had found some one. Due to Dean's deafness and resulting sour mood, Dean knew that he wasn't good company. And as Dean had begun to dwell on ideas of how to convince Sam to stop hunting, Dean had quickly warmed to the idea of Sam finding a girl to settle down with. Now, Dean was beginning to regret encouraging this romance. Usually, Dean would have joked with Sam about Sam getting a girlfriend, since after all that's what big brothers are supposed to do. But, the deafness had not only taken away Dean's hearing; but, it had also taken away his sense of humor. Dean now hoped that he was wrong about Nerisa. In fact, Dean was questioning whether or not he was just seeing something that wasn't even there. He was so accustomed to hunting, that perhaps his imagination was now creating the illusion of a threat, when there really wasn't one.

Dean took a breath and tried to clear his head. He couldn't deny the fact that several people had gone missing. Sure, all those people had been last known to have been at the beach and had all been male tourists, with the exception of Gloria; but to Dean's knowledge, those were the only things that they shared in common. Dean had no further proof of there being any other connections among them. Dean was forced to admit that he really didn't have much to go on and that he could be over-reacting to Sam's relationship with Nerisa. However, he and his brother had started other hunts with even less information than this to go on, and Dean couldn't shake the feeling that he actually had stumbled onto a hunt. And when it came to Sam's safety, Dean felt there was nothing wrong with being a little cautious. If Nerisa was somehow connected to the missing persons, then Dean owed it to his brother to make certain that Sam's name wasn't added to the list of the missing. What bothered Dean was that he, so far, hadn't found anything supernatural. But then again, he hadn't really looked for any supernatural involvement. Dean berated himself for letting his guard down and not being more thorough with his investigation.

Dean had been so occupied by his thoughts that he was surprised to see that he had arrived back at the Inn. Again, Dean checked his phone and saw that Sam still hadn't returned his text messages. Dean wasn't sure if he should be worried by that or not. If Sam was spending quality time with Nerisa, then Dean could understand that Sam may be distracted and unaware of Dean's message. But at the same time, if Nerisa had done something to Sam, then Sam might be unable to reply to Dean's message. Dean tried to be positive and decided to just send Sam another message. Dean knew that he needed to handle the situation properly and didn't want to interrupt Sam's little getaway, unless Dean had solid proof that Nerisa wasn't just an innocent bystander.

Dean parked the Impala, in front of the Inn's room, and got out. He hadn't earlier unpacked much hunting gear, from the car; but, he wanted to make certain that he had his gear properly organized, before doing anything else. Dean entered their room and quickly reviewed what he knew about the missing persons. After re-examining all the information he had about the missing persons, Dean confirmed that there were no obvious supernatural connections. None of the missing had stayed at the same hotel. None of the missing had disappeared around the same date. The missing hadn't all gone missing during the same period in the lunar cycle. The usual, common supernatural connections didn't apply to this group of missing persons. So, Dean was left scratching his head and was beginning to doubt his hunch about there being anything here.

Dean gathered up the few weapons, which he had earlier removed from the car, and got ready to head over to Nerisa's apartment. As Dean grabbed his cell phone, he saw that Bobby had called him. Of course, Bobby was unaware that Dean was deaf and had left a voice message. Since Sam wasn't here to listen to the message for Dean, Dean decided to ignore the message, for now.


	15. Chapter 15

Shortly after Sam arrived at the restaurant, Nerisa finished her shift and the two of them headed to the cottage. It took them less than an hour to reach their destination. The cottage was on the beach and was not far from a hillside, which ended in the ocean. As Sam grabbed their stuff, out of her car, he took in several deep breaths of the ocean air. While the cold, winter temperatures discouraged any thoughts about taking a dip in the ocean, the lapping waves on the shore did entice Sam to think about going for a walk later on. Nerisa opened the cottage's front door and Sam followed her inside. The cottage had a very comfy, lived-in feeling to it. It also had a fireplace, in one corner, which Sam was certain would be used later that night. Nerisa pointed out the bedroom and Sam placed their luggage on the floor, next to the bed. Sam then returned to the living room and looked out at the ocean.

"Isn't it lovely?' Nerisa whispered into his ear.

"Yes." Sam replied, as he turned around to face her. "But, I find your blue eyes far more enticing and inviting than the ocean water."

She smiled and kissed him on the lips, then turned and went to the kitchen. As Sam watched her prepare a snack in the kitchen, he sat down on a chair, at a small island which separated the kitchen from the living room. Nerisa soon placed a plate of food down, in front of Sam, which he thanked her for and then she joined him at the island with her own plate of food. Together, they ate in silence.

In addition to looking at her, Sam also gazed around at the living room. The furniture was simple. But what caught Sam's attention was what decorated the walls and shelves. Throughout the living room were various nautical themed decorations. Sure, Sam wasn't surprised to see nautical decorations, in an ocean-front cottage. What made the decorations eye-catching was their antiquity. The decorations weren't ones that could be bought at some chain store or in some knick-knack shop. These decorations reflected things taken from colonial times and possibly even later. Nautical tools and old knives were among some of the items Sam saw. Drawings and sculptures of various sea creatures and creatures of folklore added to the décor of the room. Sam recalled that Nerisa's apartment had also been decorated with a nautical theme. However, the apartment had been more modern and whimsical with its décor. Sam closed his eyes and wondered why the décor had caught his attention. As a hunter, Sam was accustomed to paying attention to what was around him and perhaps, out of habit, Sam had taken notice of the decorations. Sam shook his head and decided that Nerisa was far more pleasing to his eyes than the décor of some room.

Sam saw Nerisa smile, as his attention returned to her. He smiled back at her. After finishing their snack, Nerisa put the dishes in the sink. Sam's attention returned to the living room's décor, as Nerisa left to use the bathroom. As Sam took a closer look at the relics, he realized that he had been correct in guessing that they were ancient. He was startled to see such antiques displayed in a cottage, instead of a museum. Perhaps, the cottage's owner was a collector and preferred to display their collection where they could easily enjoy it. Sam's hand gently glided over an ancient knife, as he admired the craftsmanship which had gone into making it. During his life, Sam had used a variety of knives, while hunting the supernatural. As a result, he was able to truly appreciate the work and detail that had been used to create the knife. While the knife's sharp blade was a testament to its usability, the mythical creature, which adorned the knife's hilt, was a reflection of the artisan's knowledge of nautical legends.

Nerisa returned to the living room and suggested that they go for a walk along the beach. Sam agreed and went to grab his coat. As he did so, his cell phone fell out of his coat pocket. Upon leaving the restaurant earlier in the day, Nerisa had asked Sam to shut his phone off, so they could share a weekend without any interruptions. Initially, Sam had been reluctant to do that, since he wanted to be available in case Dean needed anything. But, after a few more words from Nerisa, Sam had obediently shut off his phone. Picking the phone off the floor, Sam decided that he didn't want to lose his phone on the beach, and placed it on top of the dresser, before joining Nerisa on the beach.

The two walked, hand in hand along the beach for several hours. After a while, they headed towards the hillside. As they walked, Sam took in his surroundings. There were no other cottages between the cottage, where they were staying, and the hillside. The hillside had many large boulders on it and many large boulders were at the base of the hillside, where hillside and ocean met. As they got closer to the hillside, Sam saw that there was limited foliage on the hillside and that it mainly consisted of boulders and dirt. They were about twenty feet from the hillside's base, when Nerisa steered them back towards the cottage. Sam readily followed her lead and was enjoying her company.

The past several days had been rather intense, since Dean lost his hearing. Sam felt bad that Dean's hearing had not returned; but, as more time passed and the deafness remained, Sam couldn't help but begin to wonder about Dean's future as a hunter. Neither brother had mentioned the topic to the other; but, Sam was fairly certain that Dean was also thinking about his future. Sam pondered what Dean could do, if he stopped hunting. Sam contemplated what jobs Dean could possibly do, despite his deafness. Sam also tried to consider what type of job could give Dean the same type of satisfaction, that hunting gave him. Sam couldn't help but speculate about how safe Dean would be, once he stopped hunting. Would something supernatural track Dean done and seek revenge for something his brother had done as a hunter? Would Dean ever really be able to evade all supernatural things? Would his brother's deafness simply act as a bulls-eye painted on Dean's back and make him an easy target for some one or something seeking revenge? Sam could feel the tension building up in his body, as he thought about Dean's future. Dean was all that Sam had left and Sam feared that his brother's future would become very bleak, if his hearing did not return.

Nerisa lightly squeezed Sam's hand. Sam looked down and met her eyes. In that moment, he forgot his concerns for Dean. "Sam, forgot about whatever is bothering you. Let's just enjoy ourselves. Let me take care of you, and you just relax and treasure your time here with me." Nerisa said seductively.

Sam immediately found himself relaxing. He suddenly wanted to do nothing more than follow Nerisa's suggestion. After all, what could he do to help Dean, while he was here at the beach? Dean was capable of taking care of himself for a bit; so, Sam shouldn't worry about him, right? A part of Sam questioned why his thoughts had so easily and quickly changed direction. However, a larger part of him was captivated with Nerisa and simply wanted to please her and make her happy.


	16. Chapter 16

Dean soon arrived at Nerisa's apartment. Sam had once mentioned that Nerisa lived by herself; so fortunately, Dean didn't have to worry about any roommates walking in while Dean checked the place out. He easily picked the lock, on the apartment's door and let himself in. As he closed the door, he quickly glanced around. The apartment had a nautical theme going on. Not only were the decorations nautical; but the walls were painted in shades of blue, with white trim. Dean pulled out his EMF meter and walked around the apartment. As expected, the meter never lighted up. So, no ghosts were present. Dean walked around again and looked to see what he might find. He really wasn't sure what he was looking for. If Nerisa was connected to the missing people, Dean wondered if she might have kept something of theirs somewhere, in her apartment. Nothing that was out, in the open, gave any indication that she was involved in anything unusual. However, the girl did seem to have a fascination with nautical lore. Dean noticed several pieces of artwork that reflected mythical sea creatures.

Dean decided to check out the girl's bedroom closet. At first, he didn't see anything of interest, until he noticed a loose floorboard. After prying the piece up, Dean found a wooden box, hidden in the space under the floor. After retrieving it, he placed the box on a table and began to go through it. The contents reminded Dean of a similar box he kept in the Impala, which contained a variety of fake IDs. Nerisa had her own little box of fake IDs. Dean began to take a closer look at the various driver licenses that filled the box. Surprisingly, she looked the same in every photo. Sure, her hair style varied; but age wise, she didn't look any younger or any older in any of the photos. Dean began to read the dates on the licenses and saw that they spanned many years. Even her date of birth varied on each of them. Dean looked up from the licenses and tried to make sense of what he had found. How could this girl appear un-aged in every photo and have various years of birth? There really was something going on with this Nerisa chick and Dean realized that he needed to figure out what that was. He put the IDs back into the box and began to do a more thorough investigation of the apartment. He looked behind paintings and looked along the walls and floors, in the hopes of finding another secret storage space. However, he didn't find anything else.

He was about to leave, when he happened to notice a bookshelf full of books. He began reading the titles and saw that most of them also had nautical themes. He noticed an art book, which had several bookmarks sticking out of it. Dean took the book off the shelf and looked at the marked pages. The pages contained paintings from various artists and various eras. What caught Dean's eye was the face of a girl, who was in every painting. The face belonged to Nerisa. How was that possible?! Who or what was Nerisa?! Dean saw that all the paintings were about nautical, mythical creatures. Was it really that simple? Was Nerisa some kind of creature from the sea? And if she was, then what kind of threat was she to Sam? Sam?! Dean had to find some way to get in touch with his brother. Once again, Dean texted Sam a message. Dean glanced through a few more books and saw nothing more of interest. As Dean left the apartment, he decided to take the box of fake IDs and the art book with him.

Dean got into the Impala and tried to decide on the next course of action. He needed to get to Sam; but, he also needed to know what he was about to go up against. Dean needed some help and so, he decided to call Bobby. Dean had Bobby's number on speed dial, and hit the appropriate digit. Dean waited a few seconds, as the call went through. Due to his hearing loss, Dean had no way of knowing if Bobby or Bobby's answering machine would answer. So, Dean waited a few seconds and just started to talk.

"Bobby, it's Dean. Just listen to what I have to say. I think Sam is in trouble and I need some help. I hope you're not trying to talk to me, because I'm deaf. I didn't have Sam tell you, 'cause I thought my hearing would come back. But, it hasn't. Here's the thing, Sam met a girl and I think that she isn't who she says she is. I found a box of IDs that go back over 50 years and she hasn't aged in any of the photos. I also found an art book, in which this chick is depicted and the paintings go back over hundreds of years. I think I know where she and Sam are; but, I can't go after her on my own. Sam said that you were doing some info recon and I was wondering if you might be nearby. Like I said, I can't hear a thing; so, text me back." With that, Dean hung up.

/SN/

Bobby stared at his phone. Deaf?! Had he heard Dean correctly? Bobby had seen the news report and had heard how massive the explosion had been. Had Dean been in the building, went the fireworks had gone off? Did Dean have any other injuries that he just wasn't telling Bobby about? And, what about Sam? What or who had gotten a hold of Sam? And what was Dean doing? What had possessed Dean to start a hunt, while he was still deaf?! And where were those two? Dean didn't mention where they were and Sam had never called to say where the boys were staying.

Bobby pulled his truck off the road and into a parking lot. Text him?! Did that boy have any clue how technologically un-savvy Bobby really was? Sure he could use a computer; but, he preferred to look through books for himself and not skim through loads of crap that clogged the internet. Text him?! Bobby had enough trouble dialing the numbers on his cell phone, let alone trying to hit the small keys to type out some stupid word. Frustrated, Bobby shook his head. It's a good thing he liked those Winchester boys; otherwise, he would just want to kick their butts. Although, depending on what kind of trouble they had gotten themselves into this time, he might still land up kicking their butts. Bobby worked on his text message to Dean and sent it. Not wanting to waste time on correctly spelling things out, Bobby just sent the message.

'Whese arf y6u Sam kn6w oe trovcle'

Dean laughed, when he got Bobby's message. Due to Bobby's quick reply, Dean figured that Bobby must have answered the phone and that Dean's call hadn't gone to voice mail. Dean immediately called Bobby back and after waiting a few seconds, he told Bobby where he was and that he didn't think that Sam knew that there was any trouble. Dean also mentioned that he had texted Sam and hadn't gotten any replies.

After hanging up his phone, Bobby grabbed his map. He was on his way home, from his trip and fortunately, wasn't too far from where the brothers were. He saw that he could easily get back on a nearby highway and be to Dean's location quickly. With his route mapped out, Bobby immediately texted Dean.

'Be ther3 7o6n'

Dean read Bobby's message and laughed again. Bobby knew English and Latin and had apparently come up with his own text language. Dean glanced at his phone's keypad and tried to figure out what letters Bobby had meant to enter. Dean quickly figured that Bobby would be there soon and decided to head back to the Inn.

/SN/

Back at the Inn, Dean gathered up everything he knew about Nerisa. He also re-read the notes he had made about Gloria's research. There just had to be something here that would give him a clue about what Nerisa really was. Dean grabbed the art book and looked at the marked paintings. The paintings were all about nautical, mythical creatures, like mermaids and sirens. What stumped Dean was the fact that Nerisa wasn't working at the beach. Sure, she wasn't working too far from the beach; but still, weren't these creatures tied to the ocean? Dean closed his eyes and tried to think things through. Nerisa worked away from the beach; but, she did own a place on the beach, which was where she had supposedly taken Sam. Perhaps, she was trying to avoid detection by not working and living at the beach. Could it be that she simply lured her victims to the beach, after meeting them somewhere else? Dean grabbed the fake IDs and looked at the addresses. After checking the addresses on a map, Dean confirmed that all of the addresses were within an hour or two from a beach. Dean wanted to do a quick search of missing persons, who had supposedly gone missing at beaches that were not far from where she had lived; but, he was running out of time and didn't have time to comb through newspaper reports and try to determine whether or not the missing person reports had increased when Nerisa lived in the area.

Dean glanced at his watch. Bobby should arrive soon and he still hadn't come up with anything solid. Perhaps, a fresh pair of eyes would notice something. Dean looked at the fake IDs again and saw that, while the last names varied, her first name always remained the same. Nerisa. Dean grabbed a paper and pen and started to spell things with the letters from the name. The first thing he did was spell the name backwards. Asiren. Dean was about to rearrange the letters, when he paused. Dean glanced at the backwards spelling of her name. What if… he simply put a space between the first and second letter. A siren. Was that it?! Could it really be that simple?!


	17. Chapter 17

Bobby pulled into the parking lot of the Good Vibrations Inn. He parked his truck next to the Impala and got out. As he walked towards the room's door, he squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. Bobby knocked on the door and waited. He was about to knock again, when he remembered that Dean was deaf. Bobby tried the door and found that it was locked. Normally, Bobby would just pick a lock and let himself in. But since Dean was deaf, Bobby didn't want to chance walking into the room unannounced. Dean had quick reflexes and Bobby wasn't sure how Dean would react to the door suddenly being opened. Bobby pulled out his phone and texted Dean.

Dean felt his phone vibrating. He hoped that Sam was finally replying to his texts and was disappointed to see that it was just Bobby.

'Open door'

What?! What did "open door" mean? Dean scratched his head and wondered why Bobby had sent him such a weird message. Did "open door" refer to some supernatural portal? Was that a code of some sort? And if so, then Dean had no idea what it meant. Dean looked up, from the material that he had gathered, as he tried to figure out Bobby's message. Dean glanced around the room, in the hopes that something would help to give him insight on the meaning of "open door". Dean happened to notice the door to the room and paused. Was Bobby at the door and that's why Dean had gotten the strange message? Sam had been going in and out through the door, since they arrived and Dean had never taken notice. Then again, Sam had had a key to let himself in. But, Dean knew that Bobby was skilled at picking locks. Why hadn't Bobby just let himself in? Dean quickly realized that Bobby may not have wanted to walk into the room unexpectedly. Dean got up and looked out a window. Sure enough, Dean saw Bobby standing outside the door. Dean quickly went to the door and opened it for his friend.

"Took you long enough to answer your door." Bobby said as he walked into the room. He noticed a questioning look appear on Dean's face and berated himself for trying to speak to a deaf man. Dean's deafness was already causing problems and they hadn't even begun to do any serious hunting yet. Bobby's concern grew as he realized that he would be forced to tell Dean to sit this hunt out. Sam may be in trouble; but, there was no way that Bobby would have a clear conscious, if he let Dean take an active role in a hunt while he was deaf. How had Sam and Dean been communicating?

"Bobby, I think I figured it out. I think she's a siren." Dean began. He gestured for Bobby to have a seat and quickly went through everything that he had collected.

Bobby sat and listened to Dean. Bobby noticed how Dean's overall speech varied, and was shocked to observe how much Dean's deafness affected his speech. Bobby dutifully listened to what Dean had to say and looked through the material that Dean had put together. Bobby was startled to see that the girl in the paintings was also the same girl pictured on the fake IDs. He was shocked to see evidence of how long this thing had survived. Not only was he shocked; but, he was also very worried, if she had survived hundreds of years, then that meant that she was very good at protecting herself and keeping herself alive. Sirens weren't something that Bobby had a lot of experience hunting; but, for the sake of Sam and Dean, Bobby was confident that he could kill her. Dean had been thorough with his research. And during his presentation to Bobby, Dean had mentioned that sirens had been killed when they had thrown themselves into the sea. If drowning was the way to kill them, then Bobby would simply have to drown this girl, before she had a chance to hurt Sam. Bobby looked up and began to reach for a pen and paper.

Dean saw what Bobby was doing and put up his hand. "Wait a sec, Bobby. I got a program on the computer and you can talk into it and it'll type what you say." Dean grabbed the laptop and put it close to Bobby.

Bobby looked at the laptop and then at Dean. He was relieved to see that he wouldn't have to write out or text what he had to say. But, that would have been the easy part. The hard part was convincing Dean that he needed to sit this one out.

"Dean, you did good. I first want to confirm that she is a siren. For all we know, a siren could some how be using this girl and girls who look a lot like her, to help attract men. If she lands up being the siren herself, then at least she's already at the ocean, and it'll make it easier to drown her there." Bobby watched Dean's reaction, as Dean read Bobby's remarks on the laptop's screen. Now came the hard part. Bobby knew how protective Dean was of Sam; so, convincing Dean that he needed to sit this hunt out wasn't going to be easy.

"Give me the address to the cottage and I'll go check on Sam and the girl. If she is a siren, I find it a little strange that she works in a restaurant. Sirens lure men to their deaths and I'm wondering why Nerisa doesn't attract more men, since she's in public so much. I'm thinking that she may just be bait that a siren is using. So, I'll head over there now and see what I can find." Bobby had purposefully used "I" and not "we" in his remark. He watched to see if Dean had caught on to what Bobby was trying to say, without coming straight out and saying it.

"I'll go with you." Dean replied.

Bobby slowly shook his head. What he was about to say, broke his heart. "Dean, you and I both know that isn't a good idea. You're deaf and are in no shape to be hunting. I know that sirens use their voices to lure people and being deaf would make you immune to that type of influence. But, we don't know for certain that she is a siren. If she's something else or isn't working on her own, you won't be able to hear any warnings that I'd try to give you."

Bobby wished that Dean wasn't reading his remarks on the laptop, since all Dean saw were words and Dean couldn't hear Bobby's tone. The screen's words were so cold and emotionless, while Bobby's speech was full of emotion and understanding. Bobby wished that Dean would look up from the laptop's screen and would look at Bobby's face and eyes. This way, Dean would know that Bobby wasn't just looking out for Sam; but, he was also looking for Dean. But instead, Dean's attention was solely focused on the laptop, as he waited to read what else Bobby had to say.

"Dean, if I need anything, I promise to text you." Bobby tried to give Dean some solace, instead of making Dean feel like he was totally out of the hunt. But, they both knew that Bobby would never text Dean. Mainly because, if things went wrong, Bobby would never have time to send Dean a message and most certainly, he would never have time to fill Dean in on the problem. They both knew that when Bobby left for the cottage, that Bobby would do so alone and that Dean would be left behind.


	18. Chapter 18

Bobby brought his truck to a stop, a block away from the cottage. Leaving Dean behind had been one of the most difficult things that Bobby had ever done. The look on Dean's face, as Bobby left the room, almost made him change his mind and tell Dean to join him. But, Bobby knew that he was doing the right thing, by telling Dean to stay put. If Bobby had allowed Dean to join him and Dean had gotten hurt, Bobby knew that he would never have been able to forgive himself.

Bobby sat in his truck and watched the cottage. It was getting late, and Bobby couldn't see any lights on in the cottage. He got out of his truck and went to get a closer look at the place. He cautiously walked around the cottage and saw no signs of any one being home. After a quick check to confirm that no one had noticed him, Bobby picked a lock, and let himself in. After entering the cottage, Bobby closed the door and then took a second to listen for any signs that some one was home. Not hearing any movement, Bobby turned on his flashlight and quietly looked around the place. Dean had described how the apartment had been decorated and Bobby saw that the cottage was also nautically decorated. He was about to head into the bedroom, when he heard footsteps, on the cottage's deck. Quickly, Bobby exited out the front door. He ducked behind a bush and peeked in through a window. Bobby watched as Sam and a girl entered the cottage. From what Bobby could see, it appeared as though Sam was moving around of his own free will and nothing seemed to be amiss.

Had Dean been wrong about all this? Bobby had seen the evidence, which Dean had collected. But, the only time that Nerisa's name had been mentioned, in connection to the missing persons, was in Gloria's notes. Had Dean been too quick to jump to his conclusion about Nerisa being directly involved? Could she too be the victim or the pawn for something else? Okay, so the girl's name spelled backwards was "a siren". But Tara spelled backwards was "a rat" and he had never met a Tara who really was a rat. Bobby took his baseball cap off and ran a hand through his hair, before putting the cap back on. Did he want to risk Sam's safety, by walking away and doing some investigating of his own, or did he want to get Sam and take him back to Dean? It wasn't an easy decision. Bobby grabbed his phone and called Sam. Dean said that Sam hadn't returned Dean's texted messages; but maybe, Sam would answer his phone, if Bobby called him. Dean hadn't mentioned there being anything going on between the two brothers; so, Bobby didn't know why Sam wouldn't return Dean's messages. But before Bobby made any decisions, he wanted to give Sam a chance to answer some questions.

/SN/

"Hello?" Sam said. He had just returned from the walk, and out of habit, had turned his phone back on to check for messages and was surprised, when the phone immediately rang with a call.

"Hey Sam, how's everything?" Bobby tried to sound nonchalant.

"Bobby?" Sam sounded surprised. "Uh… everything's fine. What's up?"

"I heard from Dean and he was a little worried. He said that he's been trying to contact you and hasn't heard back from you. I just figured that I would call and see how things were going."

"Dean called you?!" Sam sounded hopeful.

Dam! Bobby hadn't meant for Sam to think that Dean's hearing had returned. "Actually, he didn't call me. He sent me a text message and made me text him back." Bobby lied about Dean sending a text message, since he wasn't sure how to explain the weird phone call, which Bobby had received from Dean. For now, Bobby felt that a little lie wasn't a big deal.

"Oh." Bobby could hear the disappointment, in Sam's voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. Left my phone on a dresser and hadn't got the messages from him. I'll be sure to contact him. Sorry that he bothered you about it."

"No problem. Just wanted to make certain that things were ok with you two." Bobby decided that it was time to change the topic. "So, Dean mentioned that you got yourself a girlfriend. I hope that I'm not interrupting anything."

"No. No you're not. We just got back from a walk."

"Uh, huh. How are things going?" Bobby had no idea how to subtly bring up Dean's notions about Nerisa.

"Fine." Bobby could hear puzzlement, in Sam's voice. Bobby couldn't blame him for that. After all, Bobby had never questioned Sam like this about any of his girlfriend's before.

Bobby decided to change tactics and try a different approach. "Look, I'll be passing close to where you boys are staying. How about you and your brother meet me for a drink, before I get home?"

"Sorry, I got plans for the weekend. But, I think it would be good, if you could get Dean out of the room for a bit."

Bobby was getting frustrated with how difficult this was turning out to be. He had tried to be casual and unobtrusive with the call; but, he wasn't getting the answer he needed. So, he decided to just come right out and say what was on his mind.

"Look Sam. I've heard about some men going missing in the area and just want to know that you boys aren't stumbling into any trouble." Bobby decided that Sam didn't need to know that his source for the information had been Dean.

"What?! Do you think Dean 's in trouble? Is that why he was trying to contact me?" Bobby could hear panic and concern developing in Sam's voice.

"No! No! That's not it at all." Bobby quickly tried to alleviate Sam's concern. "Dean was worried that you might be in trouble, since he hadn't heard back from you. He asked me to see if I had any luck getting in touch with you."

"You sure that Dean's ok? Maybe, I should head back and check on him myself." From Sam's tone, Bobby could tell that the wheels, in Sam's head, were spinning and that Sam was thinking about what he needed to do, in order to check on his brother.

Bobby debated telling Sam to check on Dean against telling Sam that Dean really was ok and that Dean had simply sent Bobby to check on Sam. If Nerisa wasn't a siren, Bobby didn't want to ruin a good thing for Sam. But, if Nerisa really was a siren, then Bobby knew that he had to get Sam away from her. Bobby shook his head, as he realized that nothing was ever easy with the Winchester boys.

"Sam, look…"

"Well, who do we have here?" A female voice asked, from behind Bobby.

Bobby turned around and found himself looking into the bluest pair of eyes that he had ever seen. He'd been so caught up with his phone call to Sam, that he hadn't heard the woman walk up to the bush, which he was hiding behind. Bobby closed his phone and put it back in his pocket.


	19. Chapter 19

Dean sulked, in the room, after Bobby had left. Dean knew, in his head, that Bobby was right and that Dean shouldn't take part in going after the siren. But, in Dean's heart, he felt like he really needed to be a part of the hunt. After all, if Sam was in trouble, it was Dean's responsibility to get Sam out of it. But at the same time, Dean's deafness could also cause Sam to get into more trouble, if the deafness caused Dean to be unaware of a more serious threat. Hell, Dean wouldn't even be able to hear Sam calling out for help. Dean sadly shook his head. Bobby was right. Dean had to stay put. Bobby had promised to text Dean and let him know how things went.

Within fifteen minutes of Bobby's departure, Dean found himself anxiously pacing inside the room. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself; but, he wasn't successful. He needed to do something. Patience wasn't one of Dean's strong points and when Sam might be in trouble, Dean's patience was non-existent. Dean looked around the room and tried to find something to occupy himself with.

Dean's eyes landed on the box, which contained Nerisa's fake IDs. Dean grabbed the box and then sat down at the table, where the laptop had been placed. Earlier, while waiting for Bobby, Dean had not had much time to thoroughly investigate Nerisa's history. And now, as Dean waited to hear from Bobby, Dean decided to spend some time looking into the fake IDs. Not only did Dean search for information, about the names which Nerisa had used; but, Dean also looked into where she had lived and anything else he could find. Unfortunately, he didn't find as much information as he had hoped. Although, he realized that he shouldn't be surprised by that. After all, the IDs went back many decades and Dean was certain that the older information probably hadn't been placed into a computer for the public to access. But, Dean's search wasn't a complete waste. He found a few articles about her. In one, she was reported as being an antique dealer, who specialized in nautical pieces. That would explain the décor, which Dean had seen in her apartment. While using a different name, she was reported as being a maritime historian, who specialized in boats going as far back as the Iron Age. And under a different name, Dean found that she had written a variety of nautical fictional books, although Dean wondered if the books contained more facts than fiction.

Dean finished his search of her fake IDs and then decided to take a closer look at the paintings. He quickly researched the painters and saw that they had lived during different periods. He also saw that the painters had lived in different countries. This surprised Dean, since he thought that sirens were normally confined to one location. Apparently, this one liked to move around. Dean sat back in his chair and realized that Nerisa had traveled around the world.

Dean scratched his head, as he tried to figure out what she was up to. Based on his research, sirens enticed men with their singing and then continued to sing, until the men died. That could easily be done by staying in one place. Why was Nerisa traveling around so much? And if she really was a siren, then how had Sam managed to not come under her influence sooner?

Dean took his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at it. No messages. None from Sam or Bobby. Dean looked at his watch and saw that only a little over an hour had passed, since Bobby had left. Dean knew that it would probably be too soon, for Bobby to have found anything. But, knowing that didn't make the wait any easier.

Dean stood up and began pacing again. He soon decided that he couldn't pace any more. He needed to take action! Dean may not be able to take an active role in the hunt; but, that didn't mean that he couldn't be nearby for Sam's sake. Dean quickly packed the rest of his gear and the few things, which Sam had left behind. After paying the bill for their room, Dean got into the Impala and headed towards the cottage.

As Dean drove, he thought about how messed up their lives were. They had lost so much and seemed to never catch a break. Despite the fact that the brothers had tried to get some down time while they waited to see how serious Dean's deafness was, they couldn't totally avoid the supernatural. Was there some kind of weird magnetic thing going on, which attracted the supernatural to the brothers? Or was it simply that the supernatural was everywhere and since the brothers were aware of the supernatural and what to look for, they simply couldn't ignore the supernatural the way the average person did? And if this was the case, then what did that mean for their future? Did this mean that Sam would never have a chance at a normal life? Did this mean that there was no way for the Dean to truly get Sam to stop hunting? And what about himself? If his hearing never returned, how would Dean protect and defend himself against the supernatural? He knew that he couldn't expect Sam to always look out for him. Sure, Dean knew that Sam would have his back. But as the big brother, it was Dean's job to take care of Sam and not the other way around. If the deafness remained, what could Dean do to compensate for the hearing loss? He had heard of dogs being used to help the blind. But, could a dog be used to help some one who was deaf? And since Dean's main concern would be about supernatural things, would there be some way to train a dog to pick up on paranormal entities?

Dean became more disheartened as a he drove. He was very worried about Sam; but, Bobby was an experienced hunter and Dean trusted that Bobby would be able to help Sam. What caused Dean's mood to sour was thinking about how bleak his own future was, if his hearing never returned.

Dean brought the Impala to a stop a block away from where Bobby's truck was parked. From where Dean had stopped, he was able to see Bobby's truck; but, Dean was unable to see the cottage. The hunter in Dean wanted to investigate the cottage for himself; but, he knew that that would be a bad idea. No. Dean knew he had to stay put and out of the way. So, Dean parked his car, where he could keep an eye on Bobby's truck. When Bobby and Sam returned to the truck, Dean decided that only then would he pull up and let them know that he had been nearby. With that decision made, Dean made himself comfortable in his seat and paid close attention to Bobby's truck.


	20. Chapter 20

Nerisa looked at the two men, who sat in the cottage's living room. Two hunters?! She never would have guessed that Sam was a hunter. He had been so down-to-earth and kind. She shook her head, as she realized how naïve she had been and scolded herself for letting her guard down. When Sam had first walked into the restaurant, Nerisa had taken immediate notice of him. After all, it's rather hard to ignore a person who is six foot four. And those eyes of his and how they had looked her over, had made her feel so young, attractive, and vibrant. Normally, she had to work on a guy a bit, before she felt the way that Sam had made her feel. Most guys tended to think with their groin and their mouths seemed to be controlled by that same region. Sam was different. He had treated her with respect and had been very polite. Sure, she thought that he may have hoped to get her into bed; but, he never treated her like some piece of meat and never made her feel like he was just after her body.

Most men, who Nerisa chose to ensnare, were ones that were down on their luck. Nerisa found that men, who were down on their luck, were easier prey and were more easily manipulated. If a person had recently suffered some loss or was having bad luck of some sort, Nerisa had learned that these men could easily be controlled by her, without as much effort on her part. And since she did this on her own, she preferred to be in control, at all times, and preferred a hunt that required very little energy. She found that her hunting tactic tended to be a little like a spider and a little like a cat. Just as a spider will wait for its prey to come to it, so also, would Nerisa patiently wait for her quarry to come to her, before taking any action. And just as a cat is known for toying with its prey before killing it; so to, would Nerisa play with her victim before watching it die. And thanks to a spell, which had been given to her by a witch, Nerisa was able to hide her true form, until she was in the process of killing her victim. And when it came to her voice, Nerisa had long ago learned how to control it, so that she could choose when her voice was used as a weapon. After all, she wasn't greedy. She didn't want to lure many men, at one time. Instead, she preferred to lure one man at a time, this way she could more skillfully control him the way a puppeteer skillfully pulls a marionette's strings.

Nerisa enjoyed the thrill of what she did. She had had many years to perfect and hone her skills. To her knowledge, there were few sirens left, in the world. She saw herself as being a rare and exotic pearl. She treasured her abilities and ensured that her victims shared the same opinion of her, before she killed them. And the pitiful men, who she lured, were always very appreciative of the attention she gave them. After all, who didn't enjoy when some one else was willing to listen to their pathetic life stories. Nerisa's victims were grateful that Nerisa took the time to listen to their sad tales and that she was always attentive to their needs. And so, for a little while, Nerisa let them feel like they were the center of her universe and that her only desire was to lift their spirits. And in the end, she would do them a favor by killing them. Of course by then, her victims agreed to whatever she said and thanks to her knowledgeable advice, they realized that their death would serve a greater good – even if, that greater good was simply ensuring that Nerisa lived longer and never aged.

Nerisa looked at Sam and lamented how things were turning out. She had had high hopes for him. Sure, he had a sad story and to a certain extent, was similar to her other victims. But, there had been something about him that caused Nerisa to see him as being a special gem and something to be cherished. Now, that's not to say that she hadn't planned on killing him at some point. It just means that she would have put a little more energy into how she handled him and would have been more creative with her plans for him. In fact, she hadn't planned on killing him, until after she had killed his brother. After all, she had listened to Sam talk about his disabled brother and had noticed the concern and worry that he felt for his brother. So, in addition to doing Sam's brother a favor by killing him, Nerisa would also be doing Sam a favor by letting Sam know that his brother was no longer going to have to cope with being deaf. Nerisa had felt that she had been very generous in how she had planned on not only ending Sam's suffering but also ending Dean's suffering as well. And now, those plans were ruined. Nerisa knew that it wasn't wise to toy with a hunter. So now, instead of luring Sam in and toying with him for a while, Nerisa was just going to have to outright kill him and the old man.

She suddenly began to wonder about Sam's brother. Did this mean that Dean was a hunter as well? If so, that would explain why Sam had been so fervently concerned about Dean's deafness. A deaf hunter would be easy prey and would in fact no longer be a hunter, but instead would be the prey. The smile that had slowly begun to form on Nerisa's face turned into a look of concern. If Dean was deaf, that would mean that her voice wouldn't have any affect on him. Nerisa paused, as she tried to think about the possible ramifications. She knew some self-defense moves; but, she wasn't stupid enough to think that those moves would be enough against an experienced hunter. Due to his deafness, Dean may be a more dangerous adversary than Nerisa could handle. She would have to think a little more about how she wanted to handle Dean, before she confronted him.

For now, she would busy herself with disposing of Sam and the old man. After finding the old man hiding outside the cottage, she had instructed the old man to enter the cottage, and then, instructed him and Sam to have a seat. She then proceeded to question them and had learned that Dean had been looking into the missing persons and had stumbled across Nerisa's name. In the past, Nerisa had always been good about instructing her victims to never mention her name to any one. Dean had only learned Nerisa's name, after he had seen her name on the receipt, for one of the meals Sam had bought. At the time, Nerisa hadn't chastised herself for not considering the potential paper trail, and until the old man had shown up, she also hadn't foreseen how that little slip might lead to her own demise.

Nerisa looked at her watch and saw that low tide was an hour away. Many decades ago, she had lived at this very beach and had used her voice to draw sailors to her. Nerisa had made a home here for many years and had benefited from the rich trading ships, which frequently passed by the area. Back then, she had made her home in a cave, which could only be accessed during low tide. That cave had been quite comfortable and had proved to be a good storage place for her various treasures. Since many of her victims had been traders, she had used her skills to direct the sailors to bring some of the items to her. She had never been greedy. She had never ordered an entire ship to be brought to her. No, she had been wise and conservative with her requests. She would solicit a few jewels and gold bars here and there. She would also ask for fine china and certain foods, at other times. And to add some variety to her collection, she would also seek works of craftsmanship, such as knives, swords, sextants, clocks, telescopes, and other nautical tools. Nerisa had prided herself on her self-control and in her ability to skillfully manipulate her victims.

Hundreds of years ago, Nerisa had encountered a witch, who had been on a ship which Nerisa and another siren had lured to them. Nerisa and her comrade had simply wanted the crew of the ship and initially, had seen no use for the witch. Fortunately, the witch hadn't realized that the sirens already planned on letting her live and had felt the need to offer something in exchange for her freedom. The witch's offer had been that of a spell, which would allow the sirens to change from semi-birdlike creatures to full women. The only time the spell's mirage lost affect was when the sirens were using their voice to completely control a person and kill them. This spell had proven to be quite useful and had then allowed Nerisa to freely travel to other places. After all, had Nerisa remained in her true form, at all times, other people would immediately recognize what she was. Thanks to the spell, Nerisa had been able to travel around the world and had been able to experience far more than she had ever dreamed of. It was during her travels that she had learned about hunters. And these were not the type of hunters who set their sites on animals. No, these hunters went after supernatural prey. These hunters stalked werewolves, vampires, sirens, and other things that haunted peoples' dreams. It was after learning about these hunters, that Nerisa decided that she needed to be cautious with how she hunted. Since Nerisa never wanted to be targeted by a hunter, she decided to be watchful of how she used her skills and to be cautious with how she chose her victims. So, as a result, she limited how many men she lured at a time, and never stayed in one place for very long. And since she planned on living forever, she limited staying in one place to anywhere from five to fifteen years, depending on how well the game was in the area.

As a result of these well honed, self-preservation techniques, Nerisa had lived as long as she had. And, she planned on living for many more years. So now, as she looked at the two hunters who sat before her, she debated what her next move should be. She knew that she could no longer stay here and that it was time to move on. She also knew that she needed to permanently dispose of the two men, before she left.


	21. Chapter 21

Dean squirmed in his seat and felt his impatience growing. It had been about an hour, since he had parked his car and he had seen no sign of Sam or Bobby. Had something gone wrong? Had Dean been wrong about Nerisa and were Sam and Bobby laughing about Dean's overactive imagination? Dean couldn't ignore the fake ID's or the paintings. But, had he been wrong about Nerisa being a siren? Was she actually some other type of creature? Dean hadn't seen Nerisa in person himself. If Nerisa really was a siren, wasn't she supposed to be like half bird and half woman? Sam tended to look for the good in people; but, Dean knew that Sam would have questioned some one who had the body of a bird and the head of a woman. So, how had Nerisa fooled his brother? How had she fooled so many people into thinking that she was just a woman? Dean scratched his head and tried to think of some logical explanation.

Dean checked his phone and confirmed that he hadn't missed any calls or texts. Bobby had told him that he would let Dean know how things went. And enough time had passed, since Bobby left Dean at the Inn, that Dean felt Bobby should have sent some sort of text by now. Not knowing how things were going was unnerving Dean more and more. Dean debated texting Bobby; but, Dean feared that his message might catch Bobby at an inappropriate time and feared that Bobby's phone would go off and reveal Bobby's location to his prey. Dean balled his right hand into a fist and hit the steering wheel. He couldn't sit any longer and do nothing. Dean was a man of action and had to physically do something right now. The question that remained was what type of action should Dean take. Dean's deafness was a liability. Dean knew that walking up to the cottage would be a bad idea. But, he had to do something to make certain that nothing was amiss. Dean looked around and tried to figure out what his options were. When his eyes came to rest on the beach, Dean decided that he may have found his solution. On the beach, he saw an older couple walking. Dean decided that he too should go for a walk on the beach and perhaps during his walk, he might just happen to pass by the cottage. With a small smile of satisfaction on his face, Dean got out of the Impala and decided to go for a little stroll. He wouldn't go close to the cottage; but, as he passed, he planned on glancing in its direction and seeing whatever he might be able to see. Fortunately, it was winter time. So, before walking onto the beach, Dean grabbed a few weapons and stashed them under his jacket.

/SN/

Nerisa looked at her watch and decided that it was time to heads towards the cave. She had purposely chosen this cottage, since it was the closest one to the cave. Earlier in the day, she and Sam had walked to the hillside. Unbeknownst to Sam, the cave was in the hillside and, at the time, the cave's entrance had been hidden by the high tide. Nerisa knew that the only time you could access the cave, without getting wet, was during low tide. And after looking at her watch, she saw that now was the time to enter the cave.

Using her siren voice, Nerisa easily gave instructions to the men and directed them out onto the beach. Before exiting her cottage, she gave one last instruction to the men. While using her siren voice, Nerisa was transformed into her natural form. Since the men were under her control, they did not take notice of her physical change. However, she didn't want to chance a stranger seeing her on the beach, and as a result, she only used her voice while in the sanctuary of the cottage. Her many years of experience allowed her to limit how often she had to use her siren voice, in order to control the men. So, her last command to the men was for them to follow her and to enter the cave without talking to each other or any one else. Together, the three of them exited the cottage and began to head towards the cave.

/SN/

Dean had just walked onto the beach, when he saw three people exit the cottage. He could easily make out Sammy, due to his brother's height. However, due to the distance which separated Dean from the threesome and since it was night time, Dean was having a harder time distinguishing which was Bobby and which was Nerisa. From where Dean stood, it appeared as though the men were leaving the cottage of their own accord. In fact, the three were acting very casual and gave no signs of any one being under duress. Dean quickly looked around and saw no one else in the vicinity. In fact, the older couple, who Dean had earlier seen, was much farther down the beach, in the opposite direction. Dean remained where he was and debated what his next step should be. Should he walk along the beach, as he had planned, and head to the cottage and see if he could find anything? Or should he follow the threesome?

/SN/

Nerisa set a comfortable pace, as they headed to the cave. The moon was not full; but, there was enough moon out to provide light for their little stroll to the cave. She breathed in the ocean air and enjoyed the ocean breeze, which lightly tousled her hair. She also listened to the waves as they lapped onto the shore. Since it was winter, she kept her shoes on and did not allow the lapping waves to touch her feet. With a slight turn of her head, she confirmed that the two men were following her. She could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they were still under her control. With a proud smile on her face, she looked back in the direction of the cave.

With the low tide in place, the three could easily walk to the cave's entrance without even getting their feet wet. Nerisa knowingly lead them around some boulders and directed the men to the entrance. Upon entering the cave, Nerisa grabbed a lantern, which she kept near the entrance and turned it on. The cave was very spacious and had various veins that ran off from the main cave area. Nerisa led the way towards one of the veins. As she did so, she raised the lantern high and smiled as she thought about her plans for the two hunters. She had no intention of simply killing them. With her siren voice, she would easily pit them against each other and would enjoy watching the fight that would ensue. Nerisa just wondered who would be the champion, Sam or the more experienced old man.


	22. Chapter 22

Nerisa led the way through the tunnel, until she reached a large opened area within the cave. Years ago, she had called this home. Along one wall, she had cushions and pillows. Along another wall, she had various treasures, which she had collected from her victims. This was her trophy area. She liked to come here to look at her prizes and reminisce about past achievements. Now, as she looked at the two hunters, she felt like she may have achieved her greatest achievement ever – getting to watch two hunters kill themselves, while under her direction. She went around the room-like area and lighted various candles. Leaving the men standing in the center of the area, she made herself comfortable on the pillows and cushions.

After she was content with her arrangement, she debated what she should do with the hunters. It would be a waste to kill them right away. After all, this was the first time that she had ever ensnared two hunters and she felt the need to savor the moment. Sure, she knew that she couldn't allow them to live for too long; but, she felt the need to toy with them a bit. She smiled, as she began to think of things that she could make them do, to bring her pleasure.

/SN/

Dean decided to follow the threesome, and not waste time investigating the cottage. Dean walked along the beach and tried to appear casual. However, he felt anything by casual. He felt vulnerable and ill-equip for the hunt. Not being able to hear his surroundings was very unnerving and filled him with anxiety. He wished that his hearing would return, so he would not feel so defenseless. Sure, he was carrying various weapons with him; but, how do you defend yourself when you can't hear a threat approach you? Dean wanted to keep looking over his shoulder, to see if anything or any one was coming up behind him; but, he didn't want to chance drawing any unwanted attention his way, by appearing paranoid. Instead, Dean slowly walked along the beach and followed the footprints, which were left behind by the threesome. Since none of the three had walked where the waves came onto the shore, their footprints were not getting washed away by the lapping waves. Dean watched as the threesome walked around some boulders, which littered the base of a hillside. He didn't like the idea of them getting out of view; but, he also didn't feel comfortable with the idea of running and trying to catch up with them. Dean still had no idea whether Nerisa was operating on her own or if she had an accomplice. So, Dean grudgingly held back and continued his casual pace. As he walked around the boulders, he noticed that the footprints had turned and led into a cave.

Dean leaned against a boulder and nonchalantly looked back, to confirm that no one was walking up the beach behind him. After confirming that the beach was empty, Dean tried to figure out what his next step would be. Did he dare enter the cave? His deafness would keep him from hearing any one approach and the only way for him to know what was going on, was for Dean to actually look into the cave and see for himself. His hearing loss cheated him from the ability to eavesdrop and over hear any sounds that would tell him what he was walking into. Dean took several deep breaths and collected his courage. His gut told him that Sam and Bobby were in trouble and that Dean couldn't afford to piss around. Squaring his shoulders, Dean cautiously looked around the boulder and into the cave. All he saw was blackness. No moonlight reached into the cave to reveal what Dean was about to encounter. Dean's right hand slipped into a jacket pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. Dean wasn't keen on the flashlight possibly revealing his location to some one else; but, Dean had no choice but to use the flashlight to illuminate the cave. After one last look over his shoulder, Dean turned on the flashlight and carefully entered the cave. He was surprised by how spacious the cave's entrance was and was somewhat relieved to find it empty. He tentatively took a few steps into the cave and confirmed that he was alone in the immediate area. As he shone the flashlight along the cave's back wall, Dean saw several separate paths that branched out from the cave's entrance. After quickly concluding that the threesome had gone down one of the paths, Dean shined the flashlight onto the sandy floor and looked for tracks. Luckily, Sam's and Bobby's shoes had distinct prints and Dean was quickly able to determine which route they had taken.

While continuing to shine his light on the ground, Dean cautiously and slowly followed that threesome's tracks. He was relieved to see no signs of any one trying to hide their tracks, although it did unnerve him to think that Sam and Bobby were just going along with Nerisa. How had Nerisa found out about Bobby? Since Bobby knew Dean's suspicions about Nerisa being a siren, how had Bobby become one of her victims? Or, was Dean wrong about all this? Could it be the other way around? Could it be that Sam and Bobby had Nerisa under control and were forcing her to show them where she had taken the missing persons? Dean hoped that this was the case. Although, by Dean following them into the cave, would that cause Bobby to think that Dean was questioning Bobby's skills and doubting his abilities to handle a hunt on his own? For his own peace of mind, Dean felt the need to continue following the threesome. If he hurt Bobby's feelings by doing this, then Dean would deal with that later. As Dean was about to walk around a bend, he noticed a glow coming from the other side. Immediately, Dean shut off his flashlight and put it back into his pocket. Cautiously, Dean looked around the bend and was horrified by what he saw.


	23. Chapter 23

Initially, Nerisa had the hunters kneel before her and tell her how lovely she was. She was not surprised by how eloquent Sam was with his description. However, she was astonished by how well-spoken the older man was. She was now in her natural form and the men's descriptions extolled her true nature. After a few minutes of the verbal praise, Nerisa decided that it was time to get down to business. She berated herself for not considering some things sooner. Looking at the old man, she began asking some questions.

"What's your name?"

"Bobby Singer."

"Why did I find you outside my cottage?"

"Dean sent me to see whether or not you're a siren and to check on Sam."

"Dean? Sam's brother?"

"Yes."

Nerisa's attention turned to Sam. "Sam. Did Dean send you after me as well?'

"Yes."

"To kill me?"

"No!" Sam sounded hurt to think that Nerisa had even considered the idea that Sam would want to kill her.

Nerisa stared at Sam and determined that he was telling the full truth. "Then, why did you say that Dean sent you after me?"

"I think he wanted me to have a more serious relationship with some one."

Turning her attention back to Bobby, she asked, "Are you armed?"

"Yes."

"Take your weapons out and place them next to the wall behind you, then kneel back down in front of me." Nerisa watched as Bobby followed her instructions.

Turning her attention to Sam, she asked, "Are you armed?"

"No. My weapons are back in my duffel bag."

"What?!" Nerisa was bewildered by his answer. "If you're brother didn't send you after me to kill me, then why did you bring any weapons with you?"

Sam shrugged his shoulder and matter-of-factly replied, "It never hurts to be prepared."

Nerisa shook her head, at his answer. Sam really didn't seem to think that taking weapons on a weekend getaway was unusual. Nerisa looked at Bobby.

"Where is Dean?"

"Back at the Inn."

"Why didn't he come with you?"

"He's deaf and I didn't want to take a chance of him walking into trouble. I told him to stay put and that I'll text him if I need anything."

Nerisa looked at the two hunters and pondered what she should do next. Keeping the hunters alive was not an option, even if she had grown a little fond of Sam. But, in addition to dealing with the two hunters in her midst, Nerisa knew that she would also have to deal with Dean.

/SN/

Dean was horrified to see Sam and Bobby simply kneeling in front of the siren. There was now no doubt in Dean's mind that that was exactly what Nerisa really was. From where Dean hid in the shadows of the cave, Dean was able to look at her unseen. Her face was the same face, which he had seen on the fake IDs and in the paintings. In fact, as Dean recalled the paintings, a few of the artists had been accurate in how they had portrayed her. She had a face, shoulders, arms, and hands of a woman. But the rest of her was of a bird. She had wings on her back, and her torso was covered with feathers. Her legs were those of a bird, and her feet were like those of a song bird. Dean had to admit that her natural form was somewhat fascinating; but, it was not fascinating enough to stop him from killing her. Now, he just had to figure out some way to kill her. He knew that sirens died by drowning. But, the closest source of water, which Dean was aware of, was the ocean that was right outside the cave. Dean's problem was going to be getting her outside and into the ocean. To a certain extent, that normally wouldn't have been too difficult; but, Dean was concerned that she may use Sam and Bobby to keep him from achieving his goal.

As Dean tried to think of how to safely kill her without endangering Sam's and Bobby's lives, he continued to watch the interaction between her and the two hunters. From where he was, it appeared as though she was talking to them. Dean wished that his hearing would come back, so he could hear what was being said. Sure, he knew that sirens used their voices to control men; but by knowing what was being discussed, he might be able to come up with a plan on how to separate her from Sam and Bobby. Dean ducked further into the shadows, as he saw Bobby stand up. Dean watched as Bobby removed the weapons, which he'd been carrying and placed them next to the one wall. Dean continued to watch as Bobby returned to kneeling in front of Nerisa, after he had disarmed himself.

Since Bobby was no longer armed, Dean wondered if Sam was also unarmed. Dean knew that Sam had packed weapons; but, Dean didn't know whether or not Sam had chosen to carry a weapon on him. Dean waited to see if Sam also placed any weapons next to Bobby's near the wall. After a couple minutes passed, Dean decided that Sam probably hadn't been carrying any weapons. Had Sam been armed, Dean was fairly certain that Sam would have followed Bobby's lead and disarmed himself.

Dean watched Bobby pull something out of his jacket pocket. However due to where Dean was, he was unable to make out what Bobby had in his hand. Dean's curiosity grew, as Bobby kept his now hidden hand in front of his body, where Dean couldn't see it.

As Dean watched, the three suddenly turned to look in Dean's direction. Just as Dean began to wonder how they knew where he was, he felt his phone vibrate. Dam! He had forgot to turn it off! Initially, he had only intended to walk by the cottage and had left the phone on, in case Bobby sent him a text. But instead, Dean had found himself not just walking by the cottage but also following the threesome into the cave. He had been so caught up in trailing the threesome that he had forgotten to shut his phone off.

Dean knew that the phone had been set to vibrate; but, he couldn't recall whether or not it was also set to ring. But, based on how the threesome was no looking in Dean's direction, he felt certain that the phone's ringer had still been set on. After turning his phone off, Dean took a couple steps back, but made certain that he could still see all three of them. He didn't want to leave Sam and Bobby, unless he had a good reason to.

/SN/

Nerisa had decided that she needed to make certain that Dean wouldn't interfere with the plans she had for Bobby and Sam. So, she decided to have Bobby send Dean a text. She simply instructed Bobby to text Dean and tell him that all was well and that Dean shouldn't worry about a thing.

Nerisa was shocked when she heard a phone ringing nearby. Was that Dean's? Wasn't he supposed to be back at the Inn? Bobby sending the text and the timing of a phone ringing was too much of a coincidence to ignore. Nerisa knew that Dean had to be nearby. This meant that she needed to act quickly.


	24. Chapter 24

Nerisa knew that she had no time to waste. If Dean had come looking for Bobby and Sam, did this mean that he may have brought more hunters with him? From what Nerisa had heard from Bobby and Sam, Dean wasn't stupid and due to his deafness, she doubted that he would risk going into a hunt on his own. Since Dean couldn't hear, Nerisa knew that she could not control him; but, she also knew that her voice could control Bobby, Sam, and whatever other hunters Dean may have brought with him. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to sing.

At first, she sang low. She directed her song towards Bobby and Sam. In her lyrics, she told them to hunt down Dean and kill him. Through her lyrics, she explained that by killing Dean, they would be saving him from a life he never wanted. She wisely chose her words to reinforce the idea that Bobby and Sam were doing Dean a favor by ending his life. She mentally recalled how concerned Sam had been about Dean and Dean's loss of hearing. Nerisa used that against Sam. She told Sam that it was his fault that his brother was now deaf and that the only way for Sam to set things right was for him to kill his brother. Nerisa smiled, as she saw how her singing was affecting the two hunters. Based on the look in Sam's eyes, she could tell that he believed everything that she was saying. She watched as both men stood up and headed towards where Dean had been. As they left her line of sight, she raised her voice and generalized her lyrics, in order to make her song more fitting for every one who could hear it. Her goal was to make certain that not only Bobby and Sam, but also whoever else Dean may have brought along would feel the need to kill Dean without question.

/SN/

Dean watched as Sam and Bobby stood up. He watched as they turned and headed in his direction. He saw concern and sorrow on Sam's face. But, he also saw determination in Sam's and Bobby's eyes. Dean had no idea what Nerisa was saying. But, he knew she was saying something, since her lips were moving and the two hunters were obviously under her control. Both Sam and Bobby were headed in his direction, and Dean had a gut feeling that he was in trouble if either one of them got their hands on him. So, he quickly turned, turned on his flashlight, and ran back the way he had come. Dean knew that the flashlight's light would reveal his location; but, he needed to see where he was going, since he was totally unfamiliar with the cave. As he ran, Dean tried to come up with a plan. He had no idea what Nerisa was telling Sam and Bobby to do. For all he knew, she might use them against innocent people. For now, Dean decided that he needed to try and keep the two manipulated hunters in the cave. As he came upon a fork in the tunnel, Dean went down the fork opposite the one he had originally come up. He hoped he wasn't headed towards a dead-end. Somehow, he needed to separate Sam and Bobby. Dean knew that he didn't stand a chance against both of them at the same time. But one on one, Dean might be able to hold his own.

With the aid of the flashlight, Dean was able to quickly move down the path he had chosen. He was surprised by the various bends he encountered and came upon another fork. Since he had no knowledge of the cave or how to quickly navigate his way through it, he simply went to his right. He found himself having to go around some large rocks, which partially blocked the path. He hoped that the rocks would help hide the glow from his flashlight. Dean continued on his way and found that a faint glow was coming from somewhere down the path he was taking. He hoped that he wasn't going around in circles and hoped that he wasn't about to run into Nerisa again.

/SN/

Sam and Bobby found that the soft glow from Dean's flashlight was all they needed to keep track of him. Unfortunately, the cave's floor was mainly covered by sand, which helped soften and reduce the sound of footfalls. So as a result, the two hunters had to rely on the light to guide them. While the light guided them, Nerisa's voice inspired them to take action and encouraged them to swiftly catch Dean and end his life. Nerisa's voice echoed throughout the cave. Her lyrical words reverberated off the cave's walls and traveled around the numerous bends, which filled the cave's paths.

Sam's mood was depressed; but, he clung onto the knowledge, which Nerisa had given to him, that by ending Dean's life he would truly be saving his brother from a miserable, soundless life. Nerisa's words had made it clear that Sam was to blame for how Dean's life had taken such a horrific turn, which resulted in the deafness. And although her words chastised Sam for failing Dean in the past, her words also gave Sam a chance to redeem himself. In order to atone for Sam's past shortcomings, all Sam had to do was end Dean's life, thereby ending Dean's suffering. Thanks to Nerisa's insightfulness, it all made sense to Sam. By terminating Dean's life, Sam would be freeing Dean from the anguish caused by the deafness. And after all the good things Dean had done during his life, Sam just knew that Dean would certainly be happier in his afterlife. Sam wasn't completely certain that there was a heaven, although he really hoped there was one. But, even if there wasn't a heaven, whatever Dean experienced after his death surely had to be better than anything he had experienced during his life, right? Sam just wished that Dean would stop running and would allow Sam to do the right thing. Sam loved his brother very much and simply wanted to liberate Dean from his deafness by ending Dean's life. Didn't Dean understand that Sam was just doing what was best for Dean? Sam really wished that Dean could hear what Nerisa was saying; so that, Dean would appreciate Sam's intention.

Bobby ran next to Sam. Thanks to the cave's acoustics, Bobby was still able to easily hear Nerisa's lyrics, despite the distance that now separated her from the hunters. Through her song, Bobby learned that she had lived hundreds of years and he became ever more grateful to her, for sharing her experienced and insightful wisdom with him. Bobby had not been there to keep Dean from losing his hearing; however with the aid of Nerisa's knowledge, Bobby realized that he could still come to Dean's rescue, by simply ending Dean's life and permitting Dean to move on to his afterlife. Bobby knew about Dean's life. He knew how Dean had grown up and although Bobby didn't know every aspect of Dean's life, Bobby knew enough to know that the young man had never had it easy. And now that Dean was deaf, Bobby knew that Dean's life would only worsen. Nerisa's song had made this very clear. Although Nerisa's words had made it painfully clear how miserable Dean was and how hopeless his life had become, Nerisa's song had also offered a ray of hope. In order to save Dean from any additional excruciating misery, all Bobby had to do was kill Dean and thereby allow the young man to move on to a much better afterlife. If Dean was only able to hear what Nerisa was saying, Bobby knew that this game of cat and mouse would quickly come to an end, because then Dean would appreciate what Bobby was trying to do and would allow the older hunter to save him from his pitiful life.

Bobby and Sam soon lost the flashlight's glow, which they had been following. As they stood in the darkness, they felt along the walls and realized that they had come upon another fork. After a quick discussion amongst themselves, they each decided to take a different path. Each promised to call the other one, if he happened to find Dean. With that decided, Sam took the path to the left and Bobby took the path to the right. Each hunter kept his hands out and felt his way along the path, while continuing their search for Dean.

/SN/

Dean knew that Sam and Bobby were after him; so, he knew he had no choice but to continue on towards the glow, which came from up ahead. Dean cautiously slowed his pace a bit and prepared himself for whatever or whomever he may encounter. As he came around one final bend, Dean was astonished with what he found. Instead of finding the candlelit area where Nerisa had been, Dean found another entrance to the cave. However, as Dean came closer to the entrance, he saw that it didn't lead to the beach. Instead, this entrance was at least twenty feet off the ground and all Dean saw down below was the ocean crashing into rocks. Dean quickly took a few steps back from the mouth of the cave and tried to figure out what his options were. If he went forward, he would fall into the ocean. The hillside around this opening offered no foot-holdings and did not give Dean the option of somehow climbing his way down the hillside. If Dean went back the way he had come, Dean knew that he would encounter Sam and Bobby, and Dean knew that he wasn't ready for that yet.


	25. Chapter 25

Nerisa continued her singing. Despite his deafness, Dean was proving to be a bigger adversary, than she had expected. She had sent two, experienced hunters after him and still, he had some how managed to allude them. Nerisa was very familiar with the cave. She knew how well her voice traveled throughout the cave. Hence, she did not feel the need to travel with Bobby and Sam, as they hunted down Dean. Instead, she lounged on the pillows and congratulated herself on her skillful manipulation of the two hunters. In the past, she had encountered very few hunters herself; however, she had heard about them and knew how deadly they could be. A pleasurable smile appeared on her face, as she thought about how to handle the hunters and how she would simply turn them on each other. Once Dean was dead, Nerisa would then have Sam kill Bobby. Once the oldest hunter was dead, she'd simply have Sam dispose of the bodies. Nerisa debated what her next move would be after that. Normally, she held onto her victims for a while and watched them slowly die, as she used her voice to draw out their life energy which she used to keep herself young and alive. But since Sam was a hunter, Nerisa wondered how wise it would be to keep him alive for very long. So, she decided that after she had Sam pack up her belongings, she would have him kill himself and then she would move on to another town. With that decided, Nerisa felt inspired to more strongly encourage her two hunters to kill Dean. It had been a while since she had lived in Massachusetts, and she now looked forward to moving back.

/SN/

Sam heard Nerisa's words become more rousing. Her words reminded Sam of a fox hunter's bugle, which incited hounds to increase their efforts to track down the fox. Except in this case, Dean was the fox and Sam and Bobby were the hounds that were chasing him down. Fox hounds were only allowed to corner the fox and then allow the hunters the glory of killing the beast. However, Nerisa was far more generous and was allowing Sam the opportunity of gaining the glory for himself, by not only having him hunt down his brother, but also permitting him to be the one to kill Dean. Sam hoped that he would soon track Dean down and would be able to achieve the success, which Nerisa was inspiring him to attain. With renewed efforts, Sam continued feeling along the cave walls and prayed that he would soon find his brother.

/SN/

Bobby heard Nerisa's rousing words and increased his efforts to find Dean. The Winchester boy had suffered so much during his life, and now, Bobby had a chance to relieve Dean of his miserable existence. Nerisa's words made it perfectly clear that Dean had suffered long enough and that the deafness would make Dean's life simply unbearable. Bobby had always cared about the boys, and after they had lost their father, his concern for them had grown.

As Bobby moved along the path he had chosen, he noticed a soft glow ahead. He picked up his pace, since he felt fairly certain that he was getting closer to Dean.

/SN/

Dean knew he was trapped. He didn't want to risk jumping into the churning ocean below and he didn't want to go back and face Sam and Bobby. As Dean turned to look back, his flashlight happened to shine on a small alcove, near the ceiling. Dean stepped forward and saw that he could easily climb the wall and hide in the alcove. The alcove wasn't big; but, it was just big enough for him to climb into it. It wouldn't hide him from anyone who happened to look up; but, it would give him a chance to get an unexpected drop on some one. After shutting off his flashlight, Dean quickly climbed into the alcove and waited. He had a simple plan made out. He would jump onto the first person who passed underneath his location. If that person wasn't alone, then he would simply deal with whoever was left standing. That seemed simple enough; but, Dean knew that things rarely were ever that simple.

/SN/

Bobby came around one last bend and saw that he was now looking at the mouth of the cave. Bobby recalled how he had initially entered the cave and knew that this wasn't the same entrance, which they had used earlier. However, before Bobby could have another thought, he felt an unexpected weight on his upper body, right before his world went black.

/SN/

Dean quickly got off of Bobby's unconscious form and immediately stood up. Dean expected Sam to be nearby and was surprised when he didn't come under attack by his brother. Dean quickly turned his flashlight on and shined it down the tunnel, which Bobby had just come up. Dean confirmed that Sam wasn't in the tunnel, before turning off his flashlight and turning his attention back to Bobby. Dean knew that Bobby was still a potential threat and felt the need to restrain Bobby. Dean swiftly took the laces off of Bobby's boots and used them to tie Bobby's wrists behind his back. Before heading back down the tunnel, Dean expertly checked Bobby and verified that the older hunter didn't have any knives hidden. As Dean began to walk away, he looked back and whispered a small apology to Bobby. Dean felt bad for leaving a restrained, unconscious Bobby behind; but, Dean knew that he really didn't have any choice. Dean was confident that Sam was probably still looking for him; but, Dean also knew that he had to get to Nerisa, before Sam got to him. Dean turned on his flashlight and headed back to where he had last seen Nerisa.

/SN/

Sam was discouraged, since he had not found Dean. Had Dean somehow gotten past Bobby and Sam? Was Dean already on his way out of the cave? Sam debated what he should do. Part of him wanted to continue the way he was going. But as he thought about Dean's options, Sam thought that Dean might leave the cave, in order to regroup and possibly get more weapons for himself. Sam turned around and headed back the way he had come.


	26. Chapter 26

Dean soon arrived back at where he had hid, when he had spied on Sam, Bobby, and Nerisa. Dean turned off his flashlight and looked around for any sign of Sam. Luckily, Dean didn't see any hint of Sam being nearby. Dean was surprised to see how relaxed Nerisa was and how comfortably she lounged on her pillows. She appeared overly confident that she was not in any danger and that Dean was no longer a threat to her. As Dean watched her, he thought about what he should do next. He needed to get to her quickly and kill her. As usual, Dean was armed with a handgun and knife, which he normally carried on almost every hunt he went on. But, none of his research proved that a siren could be killed using weapons. So, while Dean continued to watch Nerisa, he debated how he should go about getting rid of her.

/SN/

Nerisa continued to sing and wondered how much longer it would be, until Dean was finally killed. How hard could it be for two hunters to track down one deaf hunter? Nerisa soon realized something that she had overlooked. She knew the cave and how to navigate her way through it. The hunters did not. When she had directed Bobby to disarm himself, he had removed several weapons and had placed a flashlight with his weapons. To her knowledge, Sam wasn't carrying any flashlights. Nerisa knew that there was no way that her two hunters could have any success tracking some one in the dark. Regrettably, she had been so keen on sending the hunters after Dean, that she had failed to make certain that the hunters had the proper tools with them. After quickly chastising herself for such a stupid mistake, Nerisa changed her song and directed the two hunters to return to her. As she waited for their arrival, she looked over at the weapons, which Bobby had placed on the floor. There were several weapons, all of which could be used to kill Dean. Nerisa decided that she would simply have the hunters divide the weapons amongst themselves. Then, she would instruct Bobby to take his flashlight and Sam would be told to take a lantern with him. This way, the hunters would be able to see their way through the cave and would be properly equip to quickly end Dean's life.

/SN/

As Sam was about to turn down the tunnel which would lead to the entrance that they had used earlier, he heard Nerisa's new instructions. She was now telling him and Bobby to return to her for weapons and lights. Sam knew various combat techniques, some of which would allow him to kill some one with his bare hands. However, Nerisa was now singing that Sam and Bobby would be properly armed and encouraged the hunters to use weapons to mercifully end Dean's pathetic life. As Sam began to head back to Nerisa, he smiled at how compassionate Nerisa was being and was comforted by the fact that Nerisa was aiding in Sam's and Bobby's efforts to hunt down Dean.

/SN/

Nerisa heard a noise coming from the tunnel, which the hunters had gone down. She straightened up on the pillows and wondered who was coming. To her amazement, it was Dean that came bursting into the candlelit area. She barely had time to scream out for help, before Dean hit her on the head and knocked her unconscious.

/SN/

Sam heard Nerisa's scream for help and quickened his pace. Due to Dean's deafness, Sam knew that Dean was unaware of how compassionate Nerisa was and how Nerisa had been kindly advising Sam and Bobby on how to help Dean. Sam feared that Dean might hurt Nerisa, and Sam knew that he could not allow that to happen. Sam swiftly worked his way back to where he had left Nerisa and prayed that he would get to her in time.

/SN/

Dean had seen the look of surprise on Nerisa's face, as he quickly attacked her. He also had a feeling that she might have been able to call out for help, before he got to her. After quickly looking over his shoulder, Dean knelt down next to her and swiftly gagged her. He also used some pillow cases to bind her wrists and her wings. Then, he stood up and picked her up in a fireman's carry. As Dean was about to head back the way he had come, Sam burst into the candlelit area.

/SN/

Sam was horrified, when he saw Dean carrying Nerisa. Sam didn't know whether she was still alive or dead. But, he did know that he had to stop Dean immediately. Nerisa's earlier instructions had made it clear that Dean had to die. And seeing Dean with Nerisa spurred Sam to swiftly take action against his brother.

/SN/

Dean saw the look in Sam's eyes. Dean could see the anger and fury which was directed at him and the concern and compassion that was directed at Nerisa. Dean didn't want to hurt his brother; but, he knew that Sam was still under Nerisa's control and that Sam wasn't thinking clearly. As much as he hated to fight with Sam, Dean knew that he really didn't have a choice in this situation. Dean unfeelingly dropped Nerisa on the ground and prepared for his brother's attack.

/SN/

Sam became enraged, when he saw his brother callously drop Nerisa on the ground, as though she was simply a bag of potatoes. Nerisa had done nothing to Dean and had only inspired Sam and Bobby to do what was best for Dean. Sam was furious and disappointed to see Dean heartlessly mistreat such a kindhearted person. Spurred on by his emotions, Sam forcefully attacked his brother.

/SN/

Having helped to train his brother, Dean knew how to read Sam's body movements. Having anticipated the lunge, Dean swiftly stepped aside and watched Sam fall to the ground. Luckily, Sam's emotions were clouding his judgment a bit and Dean used that to his favor. Dean expertly put his weight on Sam's back and pinned his brother to the ground. Dean felt sick to his stomach as he realized that he had no choice but to knock his brother out. After quickly hitting his brother, Dean confirmed that Sam was out and stood up. With an apologetic look on his face, Dean gave one last look at Sam and then, Dean picked Nerisa back up and left the candlelit area.

Dean decided that the quickest way to drown Nerisa would probably be by throwing her into the ocean, from the mouth of the cave which he had found. He knew that it was getting to be near dawn and was concerned that people may be on the beach. Earlier when Dean had looked out, from the elevated opening, he had noticed that you couldn't see the beach from up there. So, Dean figured that any one, on the beach, could not see that entrance and probably wouldn't notice something being thrown into the ocean.


	27. Chapter 27

Bobby slowly became aware of his surroundings. He dazedly thought that he had heard Nerisa scream for help; but, he wasn't certain of that. His shoulders and head hurt from Dean's attack. Bobby tried to sit up and found that his hands were tied behind his back, which hindered his ability to easily sit up. Bobby cursed, as he tried to free his hands. Dean had done a good job of restraining the eldest hunter. As Bobby continued to struggle with freeing himself, he heard some one coming his way. Bobby changed the way he was laying on the ground and positioned his feet so that he could lunge at whoever was approaching.

/SN/

Sam slowly woke up and realized that Dean and Nerisa were no longer nearby. Fortunately, Dean had only dazed Sam and hadn't totally knocked him unconscious. Sam knew that time was running out and that he needed to find his brother, before Dean did something stupid. Sam quickly retrieved the flashlight, which Bobby had discarded earlier. Then, Sam immediately headed back down the tunnel, which he had used just a short time ago.

/SN/

Dean could feel Nerisa starting to wake up, as he carried her to the mouth of the cave. He knew that by dropping her on the ground earlier, he had probably caused her to wake up sooner. Although he was tempted to hit her again, he didn't want to waste any more time and just quickened his pace. As he rounded a bend, he felt her move. Except this time, she dug one of her bird-like toes into his thigh. Dean could feel the blood running down his leg, from where she had cut him, and swore out loud. He was really looking forward to killing this bitch.

/SN/

Sam heard Dean's swearing and quickened his pace. Due to how sound traveled in the cave, Sam wasn't certain where the sound had come from. But, for whatever reason, he had a feeling that Dean was headed back to the tunnel which Bobby had taken earlier. Using the flashlight to aid in the hunt, Sam looked at the ground and confirmed that he was following his brother's tracks. Sam didn't care that Dean might notice the glow from the flashlight. Instead, Sam's only concern was that Dean may do something to Nerisa.

/SN/

Dean saw the glow that was coming from the mouth of the cave. With a small sigh of relief, he realized that he would soon be rid of Nerisa. He just wanted this hunt to be over. He felt like it was his fault that all this had happened. If he hadn't encouraged Sam to spend so much time with Nerisa, then Sam never would have come under her control. Not only had Sam almost become her victim, but Bobby as well. And wasn't it all because Dean was deaf? If he hadn't lost his hearing in that explosion, then he and his brother never would have landed up in that dam town and Sam never would have met Nerisa. Dean sadly shook his head, as he blamed himself for how badly things had become. Dean had lost his hearing and it had almost cost Sam and Bobby their lives. In that moment, Dean realized that, as long as he remained deaf, he couldn't spend any more time with Sam. His deafness had made him a liability, which had almost cost him the lives of two people he cared about.

As Dean saw the mouth of the cave, he happened to notice that Bobby wasn't lying where Dean had left him. Not wanting to take a chance that the eldest hunter was starting to awaken, Dean walked along the opposite side of the cave. Dean got close to the cave's mouth and stopped just a few inches from the edge. Due to Nerisa's size and semi-bird form, Dean knew that he had to put her down on the ground, before he threw her into the ocean. Her winged form made it too difficult to simply chuck her into the ocean, from where she was positioned on his shoulder.

/SN/

Nerisa could feel Dean get a good grip on her, after he stopped near the cave's mouth. She feared that he was getting ready to pitch her into the ocean and knew that she needed to do something fast. However, her mouth was gagged and she would be unable to sing her way out of this. She recalled the few self-defense moves, which she knew, and decided that she would do whatever she could to escape. As her feet were placed on the ground, she shifted her weight to them and then threw herself at Dean.

/SN/

Bobby watched as Dean approached the cave's mouth. He saw the young man come to a stop and knew he needed to act quickly. As Bobby watched Dean remove Nerisa from his shoulder, Bobby decided to lunge at Dean.

/SN/

Dean kept a firm grip on Nerisa, as he put her down, since he didn't want her to try and get away. Under his grip, he was able to feel her tense, as both her feet were placed on the ground. So, it didn't come as a surprise when she made a move to knock him off balance. What he hadn't expected was for Bobby to lunge at him. Dean kept his firm hold on Nerisa and due to Bobby's push, both Dean and Nerisa went over the edge and into the ocean.

/SN/

Sam entered the area, where Dean, Bobby and Nerisa were, as Bobby lunged at Dean. In horror, Sam watched helplessly as Nerisa went over the edge with Dean.

"Nerisa!" Sam yelled, as he ran to the cave's mouth. Sam shot an accusing look at Bobby, before looking back down at the ocean for some sign of Nerisa.

/SN/

Bobby felt awful, as he realized that he had caused Nerisa to fall out of the cave. He had only meant to knock Dean out of the way. Bobby had never meant to cause any harm to Nerisa. Bobby struggled to get up and then he too looked down into the ocean for any signs of Nerisa. Bobby noticed how high up he and Sam were and wondered what the chances were that Nerisa could survive such a fall.


	28. Chapter 28

As Sam strained his eyes to catch some glimpse of Nerisa, he began to feel dizzy and light-headed. He brought a hand up to his head and decided to sit down, before he too fell into the ocean.

Bobby saw Sam sit down and wondered if Sam was also experiencing a case of light-headedness and dizziness. Bobby felt sore enough after Dean's attack and these additional symptoms weren't making him feel any better. The eldest hunter took a few deep breaths and tried to clear his head. As his head cleared, a horrible realization dawned on Bobby. He had just pushed Dean into the ocean! It felt as though Bobby's heart stopped, as he realized what he had done.

"Sam, get my hands untied now!" Bobby shouted. He had to try and help Dean; but, he couldn't do that until he was free.

Sam's stomach twisted as he realized that he had just watched Dean fall into the ocean. Bobby's order to be untied brought Sam's attention back in focus. Sam quickly turned to Bobby and untied the man's hands. Sam then stood up, looked down at the ocean and prepared himself to jump in and look for his brother.

Bobby watched Sam stand up and realized what the young man was about to do. Bobby quickly grabbed Sam's shoulder.

"Sam, don't do it. It's too far. I don't even see any signs of him down there. The way that water is churning around those boulders, the currents could have already taken him somewhere else. If you jump down there, you'll only get yourself killed." Bobby prayed that he was getting through to the young man.

Sam turned saddened, hopeless eyes towards Bobby. "I have to find him." Sam said heart-breakingly.

"I know. Come on." Bobby kept a hold of Sam's arm and began to run back down the tunnel.

"But…" Sam planted his feet down and looked back at the cave's mouth.

"Sam. We can't help Dean from here. We'll head back to where we came in and can start looking for him, from there." Bobby tried to get through to Sam.

"Rrright." Sam said reluctantly. He knew that Bobby was right. But, Sam still couldn't help feeling that the longer he delayed getting into the ocean himself to look for Dean, the less chance his brother had of surviving.

/SN/

Despite being pushed out of the cave, Dean never lost his grip on Nerisa. As the two of them hit the cold water, Dean hoped that he didn't hit any rocks. He felt the strong current pulling on him and struggled to keep his head above water. However, he also knew that he still had to take care of Nerisa. After gasping in a big breath of air, Dean pulled Nerisa to him and allowed the undertow to take him and her under. Dean could feel her violently struggling in his grasp. Her bird-like feet clawed at his legs and the salt water stung the opened wounds that were left behind. A part of him prayed that there weren't any sharks in the area, since he feared that his blood would only draw them to him. Despite Nerisa thrashing around and his injuries, Dean never loosened his grip. The undertow pulled them further and further down. At one point, the current changed and threw the two against a rock, which resulted in Dean feeling pain along the right side of his back. Dean's lungs began to burn. Despite an increasing desire to surface for more air, Dean persisted with remaining under water, until he felt certain that the siren was dead. Finally, after what felt like hours, Dean felt Nerisa go limp. His fingers deftly went to her neck and were unable to find a pulse. Confident that she was dead, Dean desperately swam towards the surface.

As Dean's head came out of the water, he took in a much needed deep breath. The cold ocean water was starting to affect him and he was finding it harder to move his arms and legs. Also, despite his lungs demand for more oxygen, he was finding it harder to breathe, due to the cold water that surrounded him. Dean looked around and tried to get his bearings. He had lost track of how long he had been under water and had lost track of where he was. He didn't know if the cold water or the blood loss was making it harder to concentrate. Once Dean's eyes saw the shore, he proceeded to swim towards it.

/SN/

With the aid of the flashlight, Sam and Bobby were quickly able to return to the cave's main entrance. To their surprise, the mouth of the cave was halfway under water. Both hunters stopped and looked at each other. No words were exchanged. They simply looked at each other and knew what had to be done. Without a word, they cautiously walked into the water and headed out of the cave. They were happily surprised to find that no strong current was present; however, as they exited the cave, the hunters realized that they would have to navigate their way around some boulders. Not only would they have to avoid being thrown against the boulders; but, they also realized that the cold ocean water was going to also be a challenge. Sam and Bobby weren't too far from shore; but, even the briefest exposure to such cold water could have detrimental affects to one's health. The water level, near the mouth of the cave, was a little above waist high on Bobby. Although the water wasn't very deep, the strength of the crashing waves against nearby boulders did make their journey to shore challenging. The two hunters stayed close together and quickly made their way to shore. As they worked on getting to dry land, they scanned the ocean for some sign of Dean. However, by the time Sam and Bobby made it to shore, neither of them had seen any sign of Dean.

/SN/

Bobby scanned the beach and ocean for any indication of where Dean was. Bobby felt weak in the legs and knew that the weakness wasn't just a result of the cold ocean water that he had just been in. He had been the one to push Dean out of the cave and into the ocean. Even though Bobby knew that he had been under the influence of the siren, it didn't change what he had done to Dean and didn't lessen the amount of guilt that Bobby felt. Over the years, as a hunter, Bobby had been forced to make some difficult decisions and had had to do things that bothered him but still had to be done. But this... this was something that would forever haunt Bobby. This wasn't something that a few shots of whiskey would take care of. Bobby felt like he had betrayed Dean's trust. Dean had turned to Bobby for help. Strong, stubborn Dean had been sidelined by an injury and had turned to Bobby to check on Sam. And Bobby had done one hell of a fine job. Bobby had landed up getting ensnared just like Sam, except Sam wasn't the one who had pushed Dean into a freezing cold ocean from a cave that was over twenty feet above the water. Oh no. That was Bobby's claim to fame on this hunt. He knew how resourceful, headstrong and resilient Dean could be. But, being pushed out of a cave, falling over twenty feet down, landing in cold ocean water, and dealing with a siren seemed like a lot for even Dean to be expected to handle on his own. Bobby just hoped that Dean would beat the odds once again and would find some way to survive this and maybe even forgive Bobby. With renewed effort, Bobby scanned the area for Dean.

/SN/

Dean kept his eyes focused on shore; but despite all his efforts, it seemed as though he wasn't getting any closer to it. From the corner of his one eye, Dean could see that he was no longer near the hillside. While he was under water waiting for Nerisa to drown, the current had swept them many yards away from the hillside. Although he knew he should appreciate the fact that he didn't need to worry about the boulders obstructing his swim to the beach, Dean just wished that the current had swept him closer to shore. Dean's arms and legs were feeling like lead and seemed to require way too much energy to move. Due to his earlier encounter with a boulder while he was under water, Dean's right side hurt and any movement of his right arm increased the pain in his back, which of course made swimming an even bigger challenge. Not only did he have pain from his side; but, he also had pain and blood loss from where Nerisa had clawed him. While the pain weakened him and made swimming a challenge, the coldness of the water seemed to be quickly draining him of whatever energy he had left. Dean knew that he had to make it to shore. He knew that he needed to make certain that Sam and Bobby were ok. But, he was finding it harder and harder to ignore how extremely difficult his swim to shore was becoming. And on top of that, Dean had a feeling that something was behind him, in the water. He didn't dare turn around. But, within the past few seconds, something had bumped into his feet a couple times. Dean wasn't sure whether or not he was still bleeding, from the wounds Nerisa had caused. He just knew that something was nearby and that he barely had enough strength to make it to shore, let alone defend himself against something in the ocean.


	29. Chapter 29

Sam desperately looked for Dean. Sam knew his brother had to be in the ocean; but where? Had Nerisa killed Dean? Had Dean landed on the boulders, during his fall, and been killed? And why had Dean come after Nerisa, when he was still deaf? Sam knew how much Dean cared about him and how strongly Dean felt the need to look out for Sam, and Sam appreciated how much his brother cared about him. But, they had recently lost their father and Sam couldn't stand the thought that he might lose Dean too. That just wasn't something that Sam felt he could survive. Sure, they had their fights and didn't always see eye to eye; but, deep down, they never stopped caring about the other one. Sam blamed himself for what had happened. The brothers had stopped to wait for Dean's hearing to return. And what did Sam do? He got into a relationship with some chick, who turned out to be a siren. A siren?! Sam really knew how to pick them.

Sam sadly shook his head and continued to berate himself. He should have realized what Dean had been doing. His ever strong, stubborn, nothing-is-wrong-with-me, 'I'm fine' brother had purposefully encouraged Sam to find some one to spend time with. Dean had used Nerisa as a way to distract Sam from Dean's deafness. Sam knew that Dean wasn't fine and that the deafness was souring Dean's usual fun-loving nature. Hell, after this little weekend getaway, Sam had planned on confronting Dean about the deafness and how it was affecting his older brother. Sam knew that he should never have put that conversation off. He should have declined the offer for the weekend getaway and stayed at the Inn with Dean. If he had done that, then Dean never would have gone on this hunt and never would have landed up in the freezing, cold ocean. Sam prayed that they would soon find Dean and that Sam would get a chance to make up for his mistake. As Sam's eyes strained to see some sign of Dean, he noticed something in the water further down the beach. Sam prayed it was Dean. But as his eyes looked harder, he noticed something in the water behind what he thought was his brother.

/SN/

Bobby saw Sam suddenly and wordlessly turn and start running down the beach. Bobby ran after Sam and tried to see what Sam had spotted. Out in the ocean several yards away, a person was swimming towards the shore. From where Bobby was, he couldn't say for certain that it was Dean; but, his gut told him that it was. Bobby pushed himself to run as fast as he could, when he noticed something in the water behind Dean. The eldest hunter couldn't tell what it was; but, anything in the water behind a swimmer couldn't be good. However, the eldest hunter's body was betraying him. He wasn't as young as he used to be and this hunt had already taken a toll on him. His dip in the cold ocean water had saturated Bobby's clothes and hypothermia had started to set in. As the two hunters ran along the beach, the cold air and chilling wind coming off the ocean caused Bobby's cold, wet clothes to stick to his body even more and cause the hunter to become even colder. As the coldness made it harder to move, Bobby found that he was having a harder time running in the sand. Every footfall in the sand seemed to jar his entire body. His stiffening legs barely tolerated being forced to run and the uneven sand seemed to make the run more cumbersome. And despite the adrenaline rush, Bobby couldn't ignore his body's struggle to get him to Dean. Bobby had to make certain that Dean was ok and that the boy would survive everything that he had just gone through. Bobby just prayed that his own body wouldn't fail him and that he would be able to be there for Dean.

/SN/

Dean felt himself tiring exponentially. Keeping his head above water seemed to require more and more energy. And his attempt to continue swimming seemed to be a hopeless cause. With the amount of resistance that his arms and legs gave to Dean's efforts to swim, he may as well have been swimming in molasses. He knew that he had to get to shore, before hypothermia totally set in. But, his arms and legs seemed to have already become victims of the cold. Dean knew that he was running out of time and wondered if he would ever make it to shore alive. His concern for Sam and Bobby was no longer enough to inspire his body to get him to the beach. Dean knew that Sam and Bobby had both been under the siren's spell and knew that they really hadn't betrayed him. But, a small part of him said that their actions against him were justified and that it was Dean's fault that the siren had caught the two hunters. If Dean hadn't lost his hearing, he and Sam never would have stopped in that town and Sam never would have met Nerisa. To make it worse, Dean was the one who had encouraged Sam to spend time with the chick and had been the one to totally support the idea of Sam and her going to the beach for the weekend.

As Dean questioned his chances of living through this, he consoled himself with the fact that Sam would no longer be the siren's victim. Dean had killed her and she no longer posed a threat to Sam and Bobby. If Dean died in the freezing ocean, he at least knew that he had managed to save Sam from Nerisa. At least, his death had served a purpose. Dean felt himself growing weaker and weaker. Not only was he struggling to move his arms and legs; but, he was also struggling to remain conscious. Again, he felt something bump his feet. Although part of him was growing annoyed by the thing, a bigger part of him just didn't care any more. A larger wave lifted Dean up and carried him closer to shore; but, Dean wasn't aware of that. He had lost his sense of direction. And even when his hands dragged on the sandy ocean floor, Dean didn't realize how close he was to dry land. He wasn't the type of person to just give up. But, hypothermia had taken control over Dean's body and consciousness. And despite the desire to live which came from Dean's heart and soul, he was unable to go any further. Dean heard a large splash nearby and felt something grab him, right before his world went black and he lost consciousness.


	30. Chapter 30

Sam ran into the water and grabbed the back of Dean's jacket. Dean had made it into the shallows; but, he had made no effort to stand up. Sam was concerned as he dragged Dean onto the shore, by the lack of response from his brother. Bobby was soon nearby and helped Sam get Dean completely out of the water and onto dry land. Both Sam and Bobby ignored the body of Nerisa, which had been floating next to Dean.

"Dean?!" Sam said. "Dean, I'm right here. You're ok. Just open your eyes for me." Sam vaguely recalled that Dean was deaf; but, Sam's concern for his brother caused him to ignore that little detail.

Sam turned despondent eyes towards Bobby. "Bobby, do you think…" Sam couldn't bring himself to finish his question.

Bobby had a finger on Dean's neck and was trying to find a pulse. The eldest hunter couldn't ignore how cold the younger man felt and was concerned by the blueness he saw around the young man's lips. Finally, Bobby was able to locate a weak pulse. He immediately tipped Dean's head back and lowered his own so his left ear was over Dean's mouth and Bobby was able to see Dean's chest. The eldest hunter felt some movement of air coming from Dean's mouth and was relieved to see Dean's chest rise and fall. With hopeful eyes, Bobby looked at Sam and said, "He's still alive. We got to get him some place warm."

With a quick nod of his head, Sam acknowledged Bobby's remark. Fortunately, they weren't far from Nerisa's cottage. Together, the two hunters lifted Dean up and carried him to the cottage. It was slow-going and awkward, since Dean was wet and the two hunters were also starting to suffer from hypothermia themselves. After a great deal of effort, they managed to get Dean into the cottage and placed him on the couch.

Bobby stepped back and watched Sam tend to Dean. "Sam, you ok to take care of him, for now?"

Questioningly, Sam looked up and said, "yeah."

"Good. I need to go back and get rid of that bitch's body, before some beach-comber finds it."

Sam nodded his head and turned back to caring for Dean. As far as Sam was concerned, he didn't care what happened to Nerisa. But, he knew that Bobby had a point and that they couldn't just leave her body floating in the ocean, for some one to stumble upon. Sam didn't feel guilty for leaving that job to Bobby. Sam was far more concerned about making certain that Dean survived.

/SN/

An hour later, all three hunters were dry and were in the cottage's living room. Earlier, Bobby had dug a small pit, put Nerisa's body in it, put sticks and stuff on top of her, added a little gasoline, and made it look like he was just having a bonfire on the beach. Now, he helped Sam tend to Dean's wounds. While Bobby had been dealing with Nerisa's corpse, Sam had removed Dean's wet clothes and had wrapped him in some towels. Then, Sam put on some dry clothes and went looking for the Impala. Fortunately, Dean had only parked it a couple blocks away; so, Sam's search didn't take long. After parking the Impala outside the cottage, Sam retrieved Dean's duffel bag and the first aid kit. When Sam had gotten Dean undressed, he had been horrified by not only how cold his brother was but also by the numerous cuts he found on Dean's legs. Initially, Sam wondered where the cuts had come from; however, he recalled Nerisa's bird-like feet and realized that she must have injured Dean. In addition to the lacerations and Dean's cold temperature, Sam was also worried about the large bruise that was forming on the right side of Dean's back. Sam assumed the bruise was caused by Dean hitting a boulder that had been at the base of the hillside. Sam just prayed that the impact had not caused any serious internal injuries. When Bobby had returned from disposing of the siren's corpse, he had found Sam beginning to work on Dean's injuries. Upon seeing the deep cuts on Dean's legs, Bobby knew that Nerisa had been the one to inflict them and knew how painful those injuries must have been and how the salt water must have made the pain from them much worse. As both hunters treated and stitched the numerous lacerations, they were thankful that Dean was unconscious and unaware of what they were doing.

After tending to Dean's cuts, the hunters worked on getting Dean warm. In addition to turning the furnace up, they also filled plastic bottles with warm water and placed them next to Dean's skin and covered him with thick blankets. After a while, Dean began to warm up. After getting some dry clothes onto Dean, Sam and Bobby began to breathe a bit easier. They knew that Dean still wasn't out of the woods; but at least, he was starting to show signs of improving.

Bobby was sitting on a chair, next to the couch which Dean was laying on. Bobby could see exhaustion and worry in Sam's face. "Sam, he's going to be fine. You know how stubborn your brother can be." Sam gave a weak nod to Bobby's remark. "Sam, look. Why don't you head off to bed for some sleep? I'll sit here and keep an eye on Dean for a bit. We'll stay here, until nightfall. Then, we'll load your brother up and take him to my place. I don't think we should stay here longer than a day and my place is probably the best place for him to recover."

"Bobby…" Sam began to argue. He had no desire to leave Dean's side, despite how tired he was.

Bobby leaned forward in the chair and looked Sam right in the eyes. Bobby knew how close the brothers were and was not surprised by Sam's reluctance to leave Dean. "You're not going to do you're brother any good, when you collapse from exhaustion. Now, I'm going to stay right here and keep an eye on him. If anything happens, I promise to come get you." Bobby saw that he was getting through to Sam and saw that Sam was starting to give in to his suggestion. "Get some sleep for a few hours and then, I'll catch a few zzz's, before we head out to my place."

Sam hated to admit it; but, Bobby had a point. As it was, Sam was struggling to keep his eyes open. After checking on Dean, Sam went to bed.


	31. Chapter 31

The next morning, the three hunters were in Bobby's house and were recovering from their beach trip. Dean remained out of it and had been sleeping the entire time. Since Bobby and Sam had only gotten a few hours of sleep before leaving the cottage, they were both tired by the time they reached their final destination and had only managed to get Dean into the house and onto a couch, instead of getting him all the way upstairs and into a bed. Sam and Bobby had gotten over their little dip in the ocean, while Dean was still recovering from his swim in the cold ocean. After getting something warm to eat and drink for breakfast, Sam decided to see if he could wake Dean up. Sam gently placed a hand, on Dean's shoulder and was startled, when his brother reacted by jerking away from his touch and throwing an arm out to defend himself.

/SN/

Dean was feeling an aching warmth slowly seep into his body. The last thing he remembered was swimming in the freezing cold ocean and struggling to keep his head above water. He also recalled bleeding from wounds caused by Nerisa and something bumping into his feet, while he tried to make it to shore. Dean recalled the biting cold that had taken over his entire body and wondered if the warmth he felt was some weird hallucination. Dean had an internal debate about whether or not he should wake up or if he should simply return to unconsciousness. Unconsciousness sounded very nice and comfortable. If he remained unconscious, then he wouldn't feel any pain and wouldn't worry about anything. Worry about anything? What did he have to worry about? Sam and Bobby! How could he have forgotten?! They had fallen under Nerisa's spell because Dean had been too slow to realize that she was a siren. Dean had killed her though, right? Sure, he was a little concerned about what may be in the ocean with him; but, his main priority was finding out whether or not Sam and Bobby were alright. As Dean struggled to wake up, he felt something touch him. Fearing that he might still be in the ocean and under attack, Dean lashed out. When he met some resistance, he fought harder.

/SN/

"Dean, open your eyes." Sam said; as he tried to avoid getting struck again by his brother. "Dean, you're ok. We're at Bobby's. Just take it easy." Sam wondered how he could get through to his deaf brother.

Bobby came into the room and saw Sam struggling to restrain Dean. Quickly, Bobby came to Sam's aid and caught Dean's fist, before it hit Sam in the face. "What happened, Sam?"

"I don't know. I tried to wake him and he just started thrashing about." Sam told Bobby.

/SN/

Dean felt more pressure on his body. Something was restraining him. He kept his eyes closed, for fear of what he might see. Had he not successfully drowned Nerisa? Was she now trying to kill him? And… why didn't he feel wet any more? Wasn't he supposed to be in the ocean? The last thing he remembered was being in freezing cold water and yet, he felt dry and warm. That didn't make sense. As Dean took in a deep breath, he noticed a familiar smell. It smelled like… Bobby's place?! None of this was making sense. Dean's confused mind had no idea what to think of his situation. What he remembered and what he was now feeling seemed to conflict with each other. Was he in the process of dying and experiencing some sort of weird flashback? Maybe… if he opened his eyes, things would make a little more sense. Dean's arm and leg thrashing slowed, as he struggled to open his eyes. Who knew that eyelids could be so dam heavy?! Dean managed to open them a crack, before they slammed shut. Again, he tried to get his eyes to open and this time, he was a little more successful. Initially, all he saw were blurry figures over him. He increased his thrashing movements, as he tried to determine what the blurry things were. After blinking his eyes a few times, things finally began to come into focus.

"Sam?!" Dean stopped his thrashing and focused on his brother's face. He struggled to sit up, as he continued to stare at Sam. Sam's lips were moving; but, Dean heard nothing.

/SN/

Sam felt a huge grin appear on his face, when he realized that Dean recognized him. "Dean, how do you feel? You hungry? Are you warm enough? Can I get you anything? How do you feel?" Sam released his hold on Dean and allowed his brother to sit up. Sam felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back at Bobby.

"I don't think he can hear you." Bobby gently said. When Dean had said Sam's name, Bobby was certain that his smile was as big as Sam's. However, Bobby watched Dean's face as Sam spoke and realized that Dean's hearing still had not returned. "You stay with your brother, and I'll bring in something for him to eat."

/SN/

Dean watched the interaction between Sam and Bobby and wondered what was being said. However, his effort to sit up had drained him of the little amount of energy that he had, and he found himself lying back down and quickly falling back to sleep. A slight shaking of his shoulders woke him up and Dean opened his eyes to see Sam looking right at him.

"What?' Dean asked groggily.

Without a word, Sam placed a hand behind Dean's back and helped Dean to sit up. Hastily, Sam placed pillows behind Dean's back, so his brother wouldn't lie back down. When Bobby came in with a cup of coffee and toast, Sam took the coffee and helped Dean bring the cup to his mouth for a sip. After a few sips, Dean was ready to sleep; but, his younger brother wouldn't allow it, until after Dean took a couple bites of the toast. Satisfied that his brother now had something in his stomach, Sam removed the pillows from behind Dean's back and let Dean lay down. Off and on for the rest of the day, Sam would wake Dean up and get his brother to eat and drink a little bit.


	32. Chapter 32

A few days passed and Dean slowly grew stronger. Between the hypothermia, the lacerations on his legs and the bruising to his back, Dean's body had a lot to recover from. Luckily, his back was only bruised and he hadn't suffered any internal injuries. Patience wasn't something that Dean had a lot of. As he grew stronger, his desire to hit the road grew as well. However, his hearing still had not returned.

Dean had noticed how attentive Bobby was to him. It wasn't as though Bobby had ignored him, in the past. However, it was as though the oldest hunter wanted to make certain that things were ok between Dean and himself. At first, Dean wondered about the behavior change. Then, he recalled that Bobby had been the one to push him out of the cave. Like Dean, Bobby wasn't one to talk about emotions and crap like that. Sure, Bobby had, on occasion, said some things; but, his remarks were always brief and to the point. Dean knew that he needed to talk to Bobby; but due to his deafness, Dean didn't know how he could carry on a conversation with Bobby. Sure, he could use the computer to tell Dean what Bobby said. But, the computer only showed what words were used and failed to express the tone and emotions that Bobby's speech would reveal. As usual, Sam remained near Dean's side at all times. Dean loved his brother; but, Sam's hovering was starting to annoy him. The eldest Winchester wanted to talk to Bobby in private and that was hard to do, with his younger brother constantly nearby. On one occasion when Sam left to use the bathroom, Dean decided to take advantage of the little respite and go see Bobby.

Dean found Bobby in the garage, working on his truck. Dean wordlessly handed the man a beer, which Bobby readily accepted. The eldest Winchester had a few things he wanted to say; but, the short walk from the house to the garage had tired him out a bit. In order to keep himself from falling to the ground, he leaned against a nearby workbench. Apparently, he had overestimated how well he was doing. Or perhaps, Bobby had moved the garage further from the house, Dean thought with a smile. The young hunter could feel the older hunter watching him. Dean had thought about what he wanted to say; but now that he had the opportunity, he seemed to have forgotten what he had rehearsed.

Looking at the truck, Dean asked, "Things going well with the work you're doing to it?'

Bobby simply nodded his head yes.

Dean glanced over the tools, which Bobby had laid out for working on the truck. "So… just doing a routine oil change to it?"

Again, Bobby just nodded his head yes.

Dean was growing frustrated with how he was handling the conversation. Although, was it really considered a conversation when the other party only nodded their head? Dean turned to look at Bobby.

"Bobby, I just wanted to thank you for coming , when I called. If you hadn't shown up, I probably would have held off going after Nerisa, until after Sam returned from his beach trip. But seeing how she turned out to be such a bitch, I'm thinking Sam might not have returned. I just wanted to say thanks."

Bobby looked at Dean. Based on Bobby's facial expression, it was obvious that he hadn't expected Dean to thank him and it was obvious that Bobby was recalling how he pushed Dean out of the cave.

"Man, don't go there." Dean said and received a questioning look from Bobby. "That wasn't you who pushed me out of the cave. That bitch Nerisa was in your head and was making you do things. I don't blame you for anything that happened." Relief appeared on the older hunter's face; but, Dean could see that Bobby still held onto some guilt. Putting a hand on Bobby's shoulder, Dean tried to make his point clear. "I still trust you to have our backs. I know that you'll be there for us. None of that has changed." A small smile formed on Bobby's face, as he nodded his head in understanding. "Good. Now, how 'bout I give you a hand with this." Dean said, as he went to grab a tool.

/SN/

Bobby let go of the guilt he'd been carrying since pushing Dean into the ocean. He appreciated what the young hunter had just said and knew that Dean had meant everything that was said. Bobby was amazed at how forgiving Dean was, despite the fact that Bobby knew how quick Dean was to blame himself when things went wrong. The older hunter just wished the young man would go a bit easier on himself, when things went wrong and wouldn't feel the need to bear responsibility and blame for things that go awry.

Bobby looked at the Winchester boy… No. Dean definitely wasn't a boy. He was a man. A man who deserved far more than life had given him. This young man had been forced to grow up at a very young age and had had to make decisions that most adults would cringe at. Dean didn't give himself all the credit that he rightly deserved. Instead, Dean focused on making certain that Sam was taken care of and tried to rid the world from as much supernatural crap as possible. Nerisa wasn't the only thing that Dean had managed to save people from and wouldn't be the last. Bobby marveled at how down-to-earth the young man was, despite everything that he'd been through. No one would blame Dean for being bitter and deciding to stop hunting and to have a normal life of his own. But, Dean wasn't that type of person. He wasn't a quitter. Hell, even when he was deaf, Dean managed to successfully kill a siren and save Sam and Bobby in the process. Bobby had always respected Dean and been amazed by how strong the young man was. Like Bobby, Dean wasn't one to get all emotional about things. But at times, Dean would let his walls down a bit and reveal his true feelings. And this had been one of those rare times. Bobby deeply regretted what he had done to Dean. Bobby knew that the siren was to blame for Bobby's actions; but, that didn't lessen how those actions made him feel. Bobby appreciated Dean offering the olive branch and letting Bobby know that Dean still trusted him. With a small, grateful smile on his face, Bobby accepted the tool, which Dean handed to him and returned to working on the truck. With this now resolved and put behind them, Bobby prayed that Dean's hearing would return and that the young man could get on with his life.


	33. Chapter 33

That night, Dean went to bed exhausted. His talk with Bobby had been a little draining emotionally. Sure, neither of them had gotten all teary-eyed. And, Dean never blabbered on about his feelings. But despite all that, it had still taken a toll on him. That and helping Bobby with the truck. Dean never recalled an oil change being so exhausting. Then again, Dean never usually did an oil change when he was still healing from injuries. His injuries weren't too bad; but, they did hinder his ability to freely and painlessly move around. Fortunately, Dean knew how to perform an oil change and didn't need to have Bobby tell him what tools and parts were needed. Since Dean's deafness still had not resolved itself, Bobby talking to Dean would have been impossible. Dean laid his head down and within seconds was sound asleep.

/SN/

A few minutes after Dean had gone up to bed, Sam went up to check on him. Earlier in the day, Sam had been concerned when he returned to the living room, after using the bathroom, and didn't find Dean on the couch. After a quick search of the house, Sam looked for Dean outside and found him in the garage with Bobby. Sam happened to catch a little of what was being said and decided to leave the two men alone. He returned to the house and looked through some books. He wasn't doing any real research. Instead, he was just trying to keep himself busy, until Dean returned. After a while, Dean returned to the house and Sam saw how tired his brother was. Of course, Dean acted like he wasn't bushed, despite the fact that exhaustion was written all over his face. Sam had just shaken his head. What else had he expected from his head-strong brother?

When dinner was over, Dean lounged on the couch. Normally, his brother would have been flipping through channels, until he found something interesting to watch. But since losing his hearing, Dean didn't have the TV on as much. After just a few minutes of doing nothing, Dean said that he was calling it a night. Bobby had shown a little concern for how early Dean was turning in; but, he too had seen how tired the young man was and knew that the young man needed his rest, in order to recover from his injuries.

Sam was a little jealous that Dean had spoken to Bobby about the recent hunt. Sam had his own things he wanted to talk to his brother about; but, Dean had shown no interest in talking to him about the encounter with the siren. Was Dean blaming Sam for what had happened? That wasn't normally something that Dean would do; but, Sam could find no other reason why Dean was being so silent. Dean seemed to have no problem going to talk to Bobby. Sam had been at Dean's side almost the entire time and yet, Dean had said very few words to him. Sam's shoulders lowered as he realized that a rift had developed between him and his brother. A small part of him wondered if Dean's deafness was playing a role in how Dean was acting; but truthfully, Sam didn't know what to think. A few hours later, Sam too turned in for the night.

/SN/

In the middle of the night, Dean was awakened by something. He didn't know what had roused him from his sleep. He just knew that something had interrupted a really good dream that he was having, which included a nude beach and a pair of gorgeous twin sisters. Dean lay in his bed, as he tried to determine what was amiss. On numerous occasions, Dean had slept in Bobby's house; so, Dean was familiar with the normal sounds and creaks that were part of Bobby's place. Lazily, Dean lay awake and tried to determine what had interrupted his sleep. Looking over at Sam, he confirmed that Sam was fine and nothing was threatening his brother's well being. Expertly, he looked around the room and saw nothing amiss. Dean closed his eyes and intently listened to his surroundings. He heard the wind outside and the normal creaks from the house. He also heard Sam softly snoring in the nearby bed. Snoring?! Heard?!

Dean bolted up in his bed, with eyes wide open. Was he really awake or was this just another dream? Dean pinched himself and felt immediate pain. Was this really happening? A huge smile grew, on his face, as he listened to his brother's snore. Yes, he really was hearing things. And no, this wasn't some weird hallucination or dream. He never thought that his brother's snoring would be music to his ears. And yet, as he sat there listening to each snore, he felt as though the snoring was just as enjoyable as any Metallica song he had ever heard. Dean became ecstatic, when he realized that his hearing had returned. Not wanting to wait until morning to share the wonderful news, Dean turned on his bed and placed both of his feet on the floor. As he reached to turn on a nearby lamp, he froze. What if this was just temporary? What if it was just a fluke that he was able to hear? Did he really want to get Sam's hopes up that Dean was now able to hear? For a few second, Dean sat there, listened to his brother snoring and debated what the chances were that his ability to hear was only temporary. After a few seconds, he decided to hell with it. Something good had finally happened and he wanted to share the good news with Sam. If his hearing later quit, then they would deal with it. But, for now, Dean wanted to tell his brother that he wasn't deaf any more. Dean reached over and turned on the lamp.

"Uh. Wwwhhat?" Sam groggily said, as he lazily rubbed his eyes and tried to shield them from the light.

"Dude, you seriously have to stop snoring. That snoring of yours is going to cause this house to vibrate so much that it's going to fall down around us." Dean exaggerated about how bad Sam's snoring was; but, Sam would never know that.

Sleepily, Sam looked at Dean. "What?" Sam noticed what time it was and couldn't ignore the silly grin that was on his brother's face. If Dean was pulling a prank on him at this time of day, Sam was going to seriously pay him back in spades. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Glancing at the clock, Dean replied, "Yep. Do you know how loud you were snoring?" Despite his efforts to keep a straight face, Dean knew that he couldn't stop smiling.

Sam suspiciously eyed his brother. What was Dean up to? Hadn't his brother gone to bed exhausted? Why in the world would Dean be up this freaking early? And, that huge, silly grin on his brother's face was never a good sign. That huge grin usually meant that he was up to no good and that Sam was about to be the butt of some joke. Sam began to contemplate what type of revenge he would take on Dean, for this rude wake-up call. And why the hell was Dean talking about Sam's snoring? Seriously? If any one should complain about some one's snoring it should be Sam complaining about Dean's occasional nightly snoring serenades. Sam grabbed his pillow and placed it over his head. He was in no mood to play along with whatever joke Dean was trying to pull off. Snoring?! Sam shook his head at Dean's ability to think of the most inane things to wake some one up for. And how in the world would Dean know that Sam was snoring? After all, Dean was deaf. There was no way… unless. Sam took the pillow off his head and looked at Dean. Dean still had that goofy grin on his face.

Dean stood up and headed over to his duffel bag. "The cotton balls still in the first aid kit? I'm going to need some sort of ear plugs; so, I can get some sleep tonight, since that snoring of yours is enough to wake the dead and then some." Despite the fact that Dean was grabbing the kit, his eyes remained focused on Sam's face. Dean could see the wheels spinning in his brother's head and was surprised that no smoke was coming out of his ears due to how hard he was thinking.

"Dean?!" Sam said as he sat up and looked hopefully at his brother. "You… you heard my snoring?"

"Yeah. I'd have to be deaf not to." Dean said matter-of-factly. Before he could say anything else, Sam had jumped off the bed and grabbed Dean by the arms.

"You heard me snoring?!" Sam sounded doubtful and hopeful at the same time. "Wait… you hear me talking to you, right now?" Sam stared intently into Dean's eyes, as he searched for and waited for the truth.

"Umm, yeah. Isn't that kinda required when you're having a conversation with some one?" Dean asked, as though the answer was quite obvious. "You say something, I hear you say it, and then reply to what you said." Dean replied matter-of-factly. "Dude, do you not know how a conversation works? And don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject and avoiding the whole snoring problem you have." Dean pointed out with a serious tone, although his grin made it clear that he was just messing with Sam.

Sam's face was taken over by the huge smile that he had, which matched the size of his brother's smile.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."


	34. Chapter 34

Bobby walked into the kitchen, where he heard Dean and Sam talking. After glancing at the two brothers, he walked over to the counter and poured coffee into a cup. As he did so, he suddenly had the nagging feeling that something was different. Since he had just woken up and hadn't even had his coffee yet, Bobby was a little slow to figure out what felt out of place. Sipping his coffee, he turned and looked around the room and then at the two young men, who were caught up in a conversation. Still sipping his coffee and taking in his surroundings, he noticed Dean shooting an occasional glance his way. Bobby saw something in Dean's eyes, which made him suddenly suspicious. He'd seen that look before and usually it made an appearance when Dean was pulling a prank or up to some type of mischief. That boy was up to something and Bobby felt the need to quickly figure out what that was. Taking a cautious sip of his coffee, he paid more attention to how it tasted and didn't notice anything unusual. He looked into his cup of coffee and saw that it looked normal. Deciding that Dean hadn't messed with the coffee, Bobby continued to drink as he pondered what Dean was up to.

"You boys sleep well?" Bobby asked, when there was a lull in the brother's conversation.

"Yeah." The two brothers answered simultaneously.

Bobby walked over to the table, where the brothers sat, and sat himself down on a chair. Looking from one brother to the other, Bobby could see that the two brothers were in cahoots with whatever was going on. Looking at Sam, he asked, "So, you have any plans for today?"

Instead of Sam answering the question, Dean was the one to speak up. "Not for today. But, Sammy and I were thinking about packing up and heading out in a day or two."

Bobby gave Dean a scrutinizing look. "Oh really?" Bobby wondered how Dean knew what to say to Bobby's questions. Was he that predictable? Or, was Sam somehow giving Dean a signal and Dean was simply saying what Sam was telling him to? Bobby looked a little harder at Dean and saw that Dean was trying to control his smile. Dean was good at playing poker and was really good at hiding his emotions. So, Dean showing a hint of a smile was being done for Bobby's benefit. Something was definitely up. "Sam, can you do me a favor and see if the paper 's here yet?"

Sam gave him an odd look; but, did as he was requested.

Bobby turned his head to look out a window and made certain that Dean couldn't see his face. "So Dean, you two have a hunt lined up already or you just afraid that I'm going to start making the two of you do some chores around here?" After asking the question, Bobby turned back to look at Dean and acted as though he hadn't said anything.

With a cocky smile, Dean answered Bobby. "What do you mean start doing chores around here? Sam's been washing the dishes and I've been helping to set the table." Dean's smile grew a bit bigger, as he saw Bobby's surprised reaction to Dean's reply. "Sam found something about a strange series of deaths in Tennessee and thinks we should go check it out."

"Boy, if this is some type of prank you're pulling, I'm going to kick your ass. Can you really hear what I'm saying or what?" Bobby asked seriously.

Dean nodded his head. "Yeah, Bobby. I really can hear what you're saying."

A huge, ecstatic grin appeared on Bobby's face, as he slapped Dean on the arm. "I knew something was different, when I came into the kitchen. When did it come back?"

"Last night around 3:30."

"And you didn't wake me?" Bobby seemed a little hurt that he was so late to find out that Dean's hearing had returned.

"Uh. After everything I put you through, I figured you needed your sleep. Plus, Sam and I had some things to talk about." Dean tried to console Bobby. Dean had never considered that Bobby wouldn't have minded the early wake up call, and hadn't realized how happy the older hunter would be to learn the Dean was no longer deaf. During the night, Dean had only wanted to tell Sam the good news and had never considered bothering Bobby about it. Although, in the end, Dean felt that things had worked out better by Sam being the only one awake and aware that his hearing had returned. After learning that Dean was no longer deaf, Sam had felt the need to talk about their recent hunt. Dean had suspected that Sam was feeling bad about how things had played out. However, Dean had held off talking to Sam about it, because he didn't like how the deafness cheated him from hearing the emotions that Sam's speech would have revealed. Dean was just happy that his hearing had returned and that he was capable of holding a real conversation with Sam and was able to set Sam straight about things. Once that had been settled, the two brothers had gone back to sleep. After waking up and getting ready for the day, Sam started to tell Dean about another hunt. Dean knew that his brother had picked up on Dean's growing desire to get back on the road and wasn't surprised when Sam mentioned a possible destination. Dean knew that he still needed another day or two to heal a bit more; but, he was just happy that things were looking up.

/SN/

A few days later, Bobby stood in his driveway and watched the Winchester boys leave. Dean wasn't 100 healed; but, he was well enough to start a new hunt. Bobby was happy that they had all survived the last hunt and that Dean held no hard feelings for what Bobby had done. Bobby was even happier about the fact that Dean's hearing had returned. During his life, Bobby had heard about many hunters who had sustained serious injuries, which had left the hunter disabled. Usually within a few months of hearing about a hunter becoming disabled, Bobby would hear that the hunter had been killed. Bobby knew that as long as a hunter remained in shape and able to fight, he stood a chance against the supernatural. But once a hunter became disabled, the hunter became prey to the supernatural and to date; Bobby had yet to hear of a permanently disabled hunter who lived more than six months.

So, now as Bobby watched the Impala turn onto the main road, he was comforted with the knowledge that Dean was able to return to hunting and at least for now, wouldn't be turning from hunter to prey.


End file.
